'One Country-One Voice':

SLT's brand proposition comes true in North

By Lalin FERNANDOPULLE

Sri Lanka reached another important milestone to become an Information Technology (IT) hub in Asia with the launch of 'i-Sri Lanka' which is the largest Information Communication Technology (ICT) project in the North.

The five billion rupee state-of-the- art ultra high speed broadband network in Jaffna is set to revolutionise the broadband access across the country by upgrading the current copper-based network with fibre optics.

The countrywide modernisation project will help transform the IT sector to be a $ one b industry enhancing the IT literacy rate in the country.

The new facility will enable people to enjoy consistent, uninterrupted high speed internet services upto 20 mega bytes per second. The modern IT centre will bridge the digital divide between the North and the South and propel economic growth in the Northern region.

It was launched as a pilot project in Ja-ela last year. Following the success of the pioneer project, SLT launched it in other parts of the country.

SLT CEO, Greg Young stressed the need for Sri Lanka to stay connected and the importance of linking people for development.

"The telecommunication sector in the country has undergone many changes during the past 150 years and the pace of change is great. SLT is confident that the new facility will help raise the IT level in Sri Lanka to be on par with the rest of the world", Young said.

The vision of the project is 90/20/2013 which means SLT aims at providing broadband services to 90 percent of megaline customers with speeds up to 20 Mbps by 2013.

Sri Lanka's broadband penetration was 2.4 percent which is far below the average outreach level in developed countries. Currently around 25 percent of households in Sri Lanka are covered by fixed line services and 90 percent of them will be connected with i-Sri Lanka facilities, SLT revealed.

Minister of Telecommunication and Information Technology Ranjith Siyambalapitiya said that the country aims at increasing the IT literacy rate from 30 percent to 75 percent by 2015.

"The expansion of broadband network will help expedite IT development and boost GDP growth in the country. The new facility will help rebuild relations among people and accelerate development in the country", Siyambalapitiya said.

Parallel to the i-Sri Lanka project the SLT regional telecommunication office and maintenance centre was opened in Jaffna.

SLT Chairman Nimal Welgama said the broadband service will revolutionise the lifestyle of people in the North who had been deprived of development for decades.

"Sri Lanka will be a centre for IT investment and a home for a range of hightech integrated services", Welgama said.

The network transformation is a precursor to the unleashing of many services across voice, data, and video to connect all Sri Lankans seamlessly with world class information, communication and entertainment services.

SLT's brand proposition 'One Country - One Voice' epitomises the value the brand adds to the lives of Sri Lankans here and abroad.

The company will expand and upgrade the network to offer SLT megaline customers with quality voice, consistent, uninterrupted high speed internet and interactive television facilities.

"The broadband network will provide an ideal platform for business networking, interactive entertainment, e-ducation, e-health, distance learning at superior speed and reliability", SLT officials said.

The project will facilitate the setting up of IT centres in all villages in the North enabling the country to transact instantly with the international community.

The i-Sri Lanka project provides access to PEO TV (Personalised Entertainment Option) services with the launch of a whole dimension of visual entertainment to a larger audience. The launch of the largest telecommunication tower in Kokavil in July was another major boost to the ICT industry in the country.