ICT, enabler in country's development - ICTA CEO

ICT has been the enabler in the country's tremendous improvement and development, said Information and Communication Technology of Sri Lanka (ICTA), CEO Reshan Dewapura.

From left: hSenid Group of Companies, CEO Dinesh Saparamadu, ICTA, CEO Reshan Dewapura, Etisalat Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. Director and CEO Dumindra Ratnayaka, UN's Sri Lanka Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Subinay Nandy and eNovation 4D Lead Consultant, Dr. Harsha Liyanage.

"Today Sri Lanka has seen ICT creating an enabling environment for the Government, private sector and civil society to develop as individual sectors, and together as a nation," he said at the launch of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Information Economy Report 2012 in Colombo recently.

"Information and Communication Technology is the transformational tool that has broken down barriers, creating a true cyber class, and brought in that inclusiveness for all our citizens."

"The report highlights the rapid growth of the software industry in Sri Lanka, in the last decade and the significant development of the mobile content and mobile application industry more recently," he said.

"This is appreciation of the country's standing in this sphere, and it needs to be emphasised that this is not something that has been achieved overnight," Dewapura said.

"In Government, the critical information infrastructure eco system is in place, where all Government entities can easily move ahead, to re-engineer and simplify processes and automate their systems to provide better service delivery to citizens".

"For the private sector, mature ICT platforms are great transformational tools for the progression and growth of their industries and sectors. And for the ICT sector itself, the environment is conducive to maximise the opportunities in our country, as a global ICT destination," he said. "This industry is now a critical growth pillar in the country's development effort. The IT BPO industry has become the fifth largest foreign exchange earner in the country at $ 475 m per annum and has generated over 50,000 new jobs in the last six to seven years."

"Access to ICT for all through Nenasalas (wisdom outlets), enabling of local language computing, creation of local and localised applications, have bestowed benefits to all, specially the marginalised communities. The ICT literacy in the country has gone well above 40% from around 4% a decade ago," the ICTA CEO said.

"These efforts have also gone a long way to spawn a local e-content creation industry in the country. This has now come to be recognised globally by international awards for innovative digital creations.

The penetration of the mobile phones in Sri Lanka (which is now over 100%) has brought out another dimension to this thriving developer community. This dimension is reflected in the production of pioneering mobile applications, giving rise to a booming mobile content eco-system in the country."

"Our future goal is to become a 'Knowledge Hub in the Region'. Being recognised in influential publications such as the UNCTAD Information Economy Report will contribute to that endeavour," he said.