BizTech

India has much to learn from Sri Lanka - e-Content specialist

“India has much to learn from Sri Lanka”, Founder and Director, Digital Empowerment Foundation Osama Manzar said.

Manzar said so while participating at a function for felicitating 13 ICTA-initiated projects which had been nominated for the last Manthan Award held at the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) held recently.

Delivering his address on the occasion after presenting the certificates to those responsible for the 13 projects Manzar, who has also authored books including ‘e-Content: Voices from the Ground (www.econtentworldwide.org)’, said that although India was in some ways considered to be an IT giant in the use of IT for development his exposure to Sri Lankan e-content projects presented at the last Manthan Award convention held in New Delhi in mid-October convinced him that India had much to learn from Sri Lanka.

A Member of the Steering Committee at Global Alliance for Bridging the Digital Divide, Manzar, said that he was humbled by the brilliance manifested by Sri Lanka in the e-content projects presented not only in New Delhi about three months before at the last Manthan Award Convention but also by the presentations made on the day of his visit which he was making to felicitate the 13 nominees even though it was belated and overdue by about three months.

Osama Manzar who is also the current Chairman at the Manthan Award for Best e-Content in India, and the audience viewed on this occasion the presentation of three innovative ICTA-initiated projects.

The Tri-lingual Disaster Alert System project uses digital radio for displaying on public display boards in Sinhala, Tamil and English the information received through traditional FM Radio transmission.

Altogether 23 applications from Sri Lanka had been submitted to the Manthan Award and 18 of them were shortlisted and the relevant proponents invited to participate at the New Delhi Manthan Award Convention. Out of these 18 Sri Lankan nominees 13 represented ICTA initiated projects.

Osama Manzar said that it was a great achievement for Sri Lanka that out of 300 entries from countries in South Asia 18 projects from Sri Lanka had won nomination for the Award.

Three Sri Lankan projects won the Manthan Award. They were as follows:- Digital Talking Books: Information Accessibility for the Print Disabled (initiated by ICTA), the Dambadeniya Community Radio Project, and the Government of Sri Lanka’s Gemi Diriya Project.

The Manthan Awards are granted for projects that aim at raising the standard of life of people, especially the rural masses by the use of Information and Communication Technology.

The Award recognizes the best e-Content for Development and this year applications were invited from e-Content innovators, practitioners and creators across South Asian Countries. Individual participants, organizations as well as individuals seconding nominations for grassroots practitioners from countries in the region were also invited to apply.

The requirement was that they be engaged in pioneering work in developing, creating and disseminating digital content, be it online or offline, for grass-roots empowerment and development in daily life.

PEO Street TV launched

PEO TV, the first Internet Protocol Television Service (IPTV) in Sri Lanka launched its PEO Street TV promotion effective from January 2009, beaming a wide range of entertainment options on a daily basis from 6.30pm to 11.00pm.

This has been a huge success thus far, attracting people from all walks of life, showcasing an all in one entertainment solution on a large screen from its SLT VisionCom office at Colombo 4.

One can now experience an out of the box Personalized Entertainment Option, featuring 43 channels on all genres, such as entertainment for adults and children, business, education, news and sports in addition to free-to-air local television stations, which includes Rupavahini, Channel Eye, ITN, Derana and Max TV.

Speaking on the significance of the PEO Street TV, CEO, SLT VisionCom (Pvt) Ltd., Thusha Weerasooriya said, “ Our aim is to attract the attention of the public that walk past our headoffice, and arouse their curiosity, encouraging them to walk into our modern showroom and have the unique opportunity of experiencing interactive television. Our PEO Street TV promotion, which is currently in progress has been a huge success, with a cross section of society having already visited the showroom.”

They were able to watch and experience how IPTV works as well as how to use the features such as Video on Demand (VoD), Trick Play Functionality, Time Shift TV and other special features that the future of entertainment offers.

A popular feature of the PEO Street TV promotion is the Time Shift TV, where a wide variety of programs, including the recently concluded cricket tournament between Sri Lanka and India was beamed, giving those who have missed it the opportunity to watch it. Time Shift TV gives greater flexibility to the viewer, allowing them to watch any program at a time convenient to them.

PEO TV is available at the SLT VisionCom headoffice as well as all 16 selected SLT Teleshops and 12 Regional Telecom Offices in the covered areas of the initial stage of expansion. It covers all major areas of Greater Colombo with the inclusion of Kalutara, Kurunegala, Kandy and Katunayake.

More Dialog subscribers

Dialog Telekom PLC, increased its subscriber base by 29% to record 5.5 million customers as of end of year 2008 and announced that it had incurred a loss of Rs. 388 Mn.

In an announcement to Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), the company stated that commensurate with its growth drive, investments made to expand and enhance coverage, capacity and quality of service has resulted in a spike in non-operating costs including depreciation (18% YoY) and finance costs (233% YoY) the returns on which will be witnessed in the future.

The company recorded a revenue of Rs. 33.11 Bn for the year ended December 31, 2008 a modest growth of 1% compared to 2007. Revenue growth was mitigated by successive reductions in mobile telephony charges during 2008 in line with the company’s conscious decision to lower charges to subscribers in the wake of economic pressures.

Results of this strategy are evidenced by the company’s continued success in capturing a major share of mobile subscriber additions across Sri Lanka not withstanding aggressive competition.

The lowering of consumer charges in combination with impact of general inflation, increased network costs (45% YoY) and network related energy costs (84% YoY) and non-operating costs (107% YoY) resulted in profitability being impacted.

The company took a conscious decision in 2008 to make way for technology modernisation by way of amortisation and impairment provisions totalling to Rs. 1.25 Bn. The Company’s technology modernisation strategies target cost efficiencies and competitive advantage in terms of consumer offerings, going forward.

Mobitel performs well

SLT’s mobile arm Mobitel performed exceptionally well during the financial year 2008 despite adverse macro conditions and the intense competition it had to face within the aggressive mobile industry.

Revenue grew by 72 per cent - from Rs. 7,002 million in 2007 to Rs. 12,065 million in 2008.

The growth in revenue was mainly due to the rapid uptake and affinity of subscribers to the prepaid subscriber base complemented by a strong growth in postpaid subscribers with the introduction of the Upahara package towards the latter part of the year under review.

The overall subscriber base increased by 92 per cent - from 1.4 million in 2007 to 2.69 million in 2008. Mobitel’s approach of introducing products and features seemed more appealing to distinct niche market segments and gave rise to the phenomenal growth of Mobitel subscribers.

In spite of the constantly falling prices in the mobile telephony sphere, Mobitel was able to manage the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) with the introduction of innovative pricing plans that were widely adopted.

Mobitels strategy of value innovation was further complemented by rapid growth in the distribution channels and product suite. This positive trend continues across the spectrum with the company’s profitability indicators growing. Thus, EBITDA grew by 71 per cent, EBIT by 75 per cent and net profit soared to 360 per cent that helped to exceed the one billion mark for the first time.

This remarkable feat was accomplished in spite of the many challenges that had to be faced in the form of increased supply side costs arising from macro environment as well as those from within the mobile industry such as rising inflation, increase in energy costs, increased frequency charges and costs associated with the mandatory registration of all mobile subscribers.

HP appoints General Manager

HP appointed Irving Oh as the General Manager of its Imaging and Printing Group (IPG) in Asia Emerging Countries (AEC) which includes Sri Lanka.

In his new role, Irving will be responsible for managing the IPG business across all customer segments and extending its market leadership position.

He will oversee all IPG sales, marketing, consumer support and category management activities in Sri Lanka. Irving brings with him extensive country management experience.

He served as the General Manager of HP IPG in Vietnam for the past three years and has significantly grown the HP LaserJet business during his tenure.

Under his leadership HP clinched No. 1 market share position for inkjet + laser hardcopy peripherals market in the third quarter of 2008 in Vietnam. A HP veteran of 12 years, Irving rose through the ranks having held a variety of regional roles.

Past positions include Business Development Manager for the LaserJet product category for Southeast Asia, Marketing Director for the Asia Emerging Countries, and Product Marketing Manager for Large Format Printers, Storage, Networking and Servers for Asia Pacific.

Irving graduated from Arizona State University, USA with BSc in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. He also holds an MBA in Strategic Management and International Business from University of Birmingham, UK.

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