Lanka No. 32 in business sophistication

By Gamini Warushamana

There are many motivational factors for businesses and investors in Sri Lanka. The improvement of the business climate in Sri Lanka after the end of terrorism is significant and the changes that have taken place during the past three years is promising, said Director, Commercial Relations of Research in Motion (RIM) India, Hitesh Shah at the launch of BlackBerry Z 10 smart phone in Colombo last week.

The economy is growing fast, the GDP is increasing and therefore the lifestyles of the people are changing. Domestic demand for hand phones is also increasing. There are other factors for technology companies such as RIM to be concerned with.

Sri Lanka is the first South Asian country to launch the 3G and 4G mobile service. According to international classifications Sri Lanka is No. 32 in the world, in business sophistication, 42 in innovation and 52 in global competitiveness.

“We first launched the BlackBerry Server in Sri Lanka in 2006 with Dialogue and this is the first direct launch of BlackBerry products in Sri Lanka and we scaled up our distribution with Soft Logic,” said Shah.

Group Chief Operating officer of Dialog Axiata, Azwan Khan said that the hand phone is more than a communication tool today and it has become a lifestyle and productivity enhancement tool. Now mobile communication is transforming to mobile computing. Blackberry Z 10 is a significant technological innovation and BalckBerry was the first to introduce mobile email, he said.