M banking-key to giant strides in development
Excerpts of Speech delivered by the General
Manager, Sri Lanka Telecom Regulatory Commission, Priyantha
Kariyapperuma at the Key Persons’ Forum organised by the Small and
Medium Entreprenuer Developers (SMED) and sponsored by the Daily News.
At the very outset I must mention that this floor is the birth place
to commence a very important organisation namely “Chamber of Young Lanka
Entreprenuers.” It was started in this building in 1998 and I see few of
the founder members present here.
My topic is on “M Commerce Policies and Benefits to Small and Medium
Entreprenuers. The telecommunication serivice in Sri Lnaka is directly
coming under the purview of President of Sri Lanka and not under any
Minister. That itself shows the emphasis given to this sector.
Drawback
Though Sri Lanka is far ahead of other countries in using mobile
telecommunication technology Sri Lanka lags behind in getting the
advantages of satellite communications and due to this drawback the
country has to pay six times more than the amount required for such
communication facilities.
In M-Commerce the ways to enhance SME competitiveness is a simple
communication to a more complex application using a network which
provides access to direct marketing to business matching (Simple SMS
using a network).
Barriers
This would enable obtaining market information such as market prices,
market alerts etc (by SMS messages). In overcoming traditional barriers
digital content goes mobile and it facilitates financial transfers.
M-banking has a huge potential for trade development and poverty
reduction. The mobile adoption is fast moving in developing countries
now.
There is a tremendous growth in the use of mobile telephones as well
as fixed telephones and the growth between 2000 and 2008 was fixed
telephones from 0.76 million to 3.44 million and mobile telephones from
0.43 million leaping to a gigantic figure of 11.528 million. The
cumulative investment in telephone industry is Rs 100,172 million in
2000 to Rs 218,369 million in 2007.
He said that M-Commerce could be defined as the ability to conduct
commerce using a mobile device - a mobile phone (cell phone). M-Commerce
is any transaction involving the transfer of ownership or rights to use
goods and services by using mobile access to computer mediated networks
with the help of an electronic device.
More efficient
There has been tremendous growth in telecom and consumer banking
industry. Cellular phones and PDAs have become so popular that many
businesses are beginning to use M-Commerce as a more efficient method
for reaching and communicating with their customers.
Efficient transfer of data are over 2.5G, 3G and 3.5G networks which
has been used first by Sri Lanka in the South Asian region. The
evolution of the handheld devices incorporating WAP, GPRS and HSPA and
the cost of entry into mobile commerce is low for most entrants. He said
that the features of the mobile devices are user friendly.
Boost
M-Commerce attracts all players from all economic sectors from
technology, finance, retail, media and all anticipate significant growth
in commerce.
Growth in mobile products such as ring-tones, games and graphics are
also visible.
The M-banking permits cheaper financial services and reach many
so-called “unbanked” and also these financial services boost
entrepreneurship.
In the case of policies there is the establishment of M-finance
standards (telecom-technicalities and financial processes). There is
dissemination of best practices to enable the environment for shared
benefits for all stakeholders. The regulatory framework is under
Electronic Transaction Act No. 19 of 2006 and Computer Crimes Act No.24
of 2007. |