Government functions will soon be digitalised
The Sri Lanka government is ambitiously working towards digitalising the economy and functions of the government where connectivity plays a major role in achieving success in the future, said the Secretary, Ministry of Telecommunication, Digital Infrastructure and Foreign Employment Chulananda Perera at the WTTx Asia –Pacific Summit (Sri Lanka) Joint Declaration held at the Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo last week.
He said the government have launched the vision 2025 Plan to enable Sri Lanka to develop strategies and to encourage the use of digital and other technology to become globally competitive and to become a digital powered economy by reducing traction costs to stimulate job creation and help SME ‘s to thrive.
The national planning for development of the IT Sector is vital for economic development. “Therefore the government must play a key role in this process by having a national plan to attract foreign investment and talent to the country.” Over the past 30 years information technology has changed the way how we live and work. In the next 30 years IT will enable businesses to become globally competitive that will contribute to the economic development. He further said that having tax cuts or reduced taxes will help companies to develop digital infrastructure framework. To achieve leapfrog development the government should tie up and partner with technologically advanced companies.
Meanwhile at the GTI, Informa and Huawei held the Asia Pacific WTTx (fixed wireless access) summit on the theme “Bring Affordable and Fast Fixed Wireless Broadband to Every Household.”
Discussions centered on accelerating the growth of Asia –Pacific household penetration, advancing the affordability of favourable policies and regulations. At the summit Huawei together with Asia –Pacific ICT regulators, leading operators and industry organisations launched a joint declaration called “Bridge the Digital Divide Accelerate Broadband to Households “to create a sustainable industry environment for the development of fixed wireless broadband.
Discussions also focused on how fixed wireless can achieve maximum usage for the development of society by policies and regulations including spectrum, tax, land and subsidies. WTTx is a home broadband technology using 4G/4.5G technologies to deliver cost –effective fibre –like wireless broadband access to unconnected household.
Low deployment costs and operating expenses are among WTTx greatest advantage. According to broadband targets national broadband penetration is expected to soar from 17 per cent to 50 per cent in the coming 3-5 years.