Competition between Sri Lanka's Internet Service Providers (ISPs) has only provided users with "few benefits" thus far and ISPs must become "more generous" or face regulation, warned President's Secretary Lalith Weeratunga. Further, he elaborated that ISPs should make the "Internet more accessible and affordable to all communities throughout the country."
He also revealed that a local programme to foster Internet use at the rural level, e-Sri Lanka, was "almost at its destination" and that " the World Bank has pledged funds for [its] second phase."
Mr. Weeratunga's comments were made as part of his Chief Guest's speech at INET Colombo, a two-day event, organised by the Internet Society's Sri Lanka Chapter held in Colombo on May 23.
Beginning by saying that "Sri Lanka has recorded 8.3% Internet usage in 2010" and that this was a "significant improvement from 5.5% in 2009" and 0.5% at the beginning of the last decade, his opinion was that Sri Lanka being ranked 62nd in the 2010/2011 Global Competitiveness Index, a report published annually by the World Economic Forum, meant that "we have 61 countries ahead of us in the global competition for development!"
Additionally, Mr. Weeratunga also indicated that, with the "expansion of mobile phones and telecom networks which enabled people to access the Internet without much difficulty", he was encouraged to "see more and more people using telephones, both fixed and mobile, to transact business and to improve the quality of their life. Of the 20 million people, it is reported that 18 million people own a telephone."
Expressing his views on censoring the Internet, he commented that "some countries have started strict measures on both hosting websites and accessing the Internet. However, as a public servant of a democratic country, I always advocate self discipline rather than controlling. If we control, we control the creativity and innovation too, which is a must for the advancement of a nation."
Mr. Weeratunga also weighed in on the fast-growing area of social networking by saying: "My opinion is that all social networking tools are an advanced mode of village ladies clubs near the common well, where all sort of gossips are exchanged. It is the ‘trust’ factor that makes someone’s contribution acceptable or not."
Concluding his remarks, he highlighted Sri Lanka's achievements in the area of Internet adoption and revealed that "India wanted to learn the way we operate the Government Information Center (GIC 1919), the citizen’s helpdesk to obtain information on public services." Also that Pakistan too had wanted the island's "expert knowledge on rural telecenter network – Nenasala" while also noting Sri Lanka's status as "main technology partner for the telecenter.org – the forum for the global telecenter family."
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