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Dialog GSM, Sri Lanka's premier digital cellular network, and pioneer of several state of the art mobile communications, used the strength of GSM Technology and Internet as a key tool towards reaching and transforming the lives of those who have been ravaged by the war in North and East.

The Jaffna Peninsula was the home for over 2.5 million people. Due to the destruction of the war that broke out in these areas, basic needs such as food and medicine were in short supply, telecommunication, electronic and transport infrastructure were destroyed and the peninsula was completely cut off from the rest of the country and the world for the past two decades.

As a result of the war, nearly 1.3 million people were displaced and many families were separated, some even migrated to foreign countries. Communication between displaced relatives and family members became an essential service. Hence the destruction of telecommunicates was felt badly by the affected citizens of Jaffna. The extended conflict had left less than 2,000 telephone lines serving the region; these too were unreliable and exorbitantly expensive access.

A ray of hope shone through when the historic ceasefire agreement between the rebel forces and the government of Sri Lanka was signed. Dialog GSM was the first mobile telecommunication network to access the people of Northern Sri Lanka and tried to transform their lives into some degree of normalcy.

Dialog was faced with many challenges, such as the threat of landmines, roads such as A9 being closed, and lack of terrestrial, long haul microwave links. Despite all of these obstacles, Dialog had found alternative methods such as the use satellite service to establish the long haul Microwave link to connect to the Colombo switches even at a very high operational and capital cost.

Within a short time frame of six months, Dialog's 4 new base stations were erected offering coverage for 60% of the area. Further five more base stations were erected to provide coverage for eastern coast of the island.

Dialog was also quick to use its existing knowledge and expertise in its state of the art technologies to develop value added applications, which filled the critical needs of the people. Using SMS based applications; market prices of regional products were brought to the fingertips of the local traders, in addition standard services such as foreign exchange rate. Means to carry credit card authorisation using GSM connectivity was also a value addition that brought normalcy to the retail sector.

An SMS and web based people finder, an unique application designed to reunite families and friends separated by the war. Web based trilingual e-mail using the power of Internet enabled by GSM data to add new dimension to communication.

Access to the Internet facilitated through GSM and GPRS date opened a new realm of opportunities to deliver unique services aimed at bridging the constraint of distance and inadequate transportation facilities between the war affected areas and the hub of commercial and administrative activity in the south of the country. Extending the reach of government administration through a portal providing important forms such as driving licence and passport application.

Apart from this Dialog GSM has extended its emergency 112 applications to peninsula, any dialog mobile user is able to connect to the Jaffna Police Station by dialling 112. As there is an influx of tourists to Jaffna, the medium scale crime rate has risen. This facility will assist any victim to get in touch with the Jaffna Police in an emergency.

Dialog has also extended its Dialog @ Hospitals projects to reach the bedridden and the critically sick in six hospitals in Jaffna Peninsula fulfilling the long awaited communication channel to hospitals, as most of these hospitals previously did not have telecommunication facilities. Dialog has also strengthened communication by providing Internet Facility to the Jaffna Central Hospital via Dialog Internet service.

Further strengthening the commitment to the people in the north and east, Dialog has reached the young undergraduates in the peninsula. four computers were donated to the Jaffna University and two dial up internet connections warrants research purposes. Dialog provided ten e-mail accounts for the Computer Science department of the University.

Dr. Hans Wejeyasuriya, CEO of MTN Networks (pvt) Ltd said, "A mere six months in real time-GSM precipitated an aggressive transformation towards normalcy in the lives of thousands of people. We will not stop here, there are many more transformations to be achieved through GSM Access", he said.

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Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
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