ICTA to link 3,500 government buildings with free Wifi
Sri Lanka’s Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) says it is close to starting a project where 3,500 government buildings will be linked with free Wifi at 100 Mbps speed. This is much bigger than any private institution’s network, noted ICTA CEO Muhunthan Canagey speaking during the panel discussion at this week’s LBR-LBO-organised Enterprise Summit 2015 in Colombo on the topic ‘Sri Lanka Technology Drives Disruption Embrace or Face Extinction’.
“The government is very keen building software infrastructure. There are early adopters, followers and people who resist technology and resist change. When Wifi was given free people who had never used it started using it,” he added.
Mr. Canagey noted that for technology disruption to take place the support of the banks and the rest of the industry is essential. Technology disruption has to happen within the industry itself if not “we will actually create a new legacy of business, keeping the existing legacy on a regulated framework. There will be entirely new businesses coming up and eventually we will face extinction. Change is good which everyone wants and not to look at the same things all the time”.
In order for new innovations to happen there has to be a culture for innovation. It’s sad to see people investing money from their credit cards and spending on new technology. That is not the approach towards technology and it’s actually killing the industry. “We need to change it and connect people who have a different risk appetite to do that. We can only do that digitally and ICTA is working on it and what happens from there is for citizens to take it forward,” noted Mr. Canagey.
He said by the end of 2016 Internet will be available to every little village in the country. Already 2.2 million people in the country have facebook (FB) accounts. Top experts in the field of technology and innovation were present at the summit and shared their knowledge and thoughts on how disruptive are new innovations and how the country can face the challenges.
Academy of Design Founder and Managing Director Linda Speldewinde in her remarks said that numerous opportunities are available in the digital platform and online shopping is picking up very fast. “If you are not living in the digital domain, you are not connected to the digital world,” she noted.
Sampath Bank MD Aravinda Perera said that new mobile applications are evolving and it disrupts the functions of banking industry. “Nowadays more accounts are opened by the youth who have the right skills of knowledge. Everyone should be accessible to e-products wherever they are. Nearly everyone has a mobile phone which is the most effective device for disruption,” stressed Mr. Perera.
Leapset Co-founder and Chief Executive Mani Kulasooriya noted that disruptions are coming now in payments and no industry is safe today with the evolving technology. “We Sri Lankans are not pushing hard enough into the tech world and involving in online-based businesses.”