Computer hardware sales increasing

Indunil HEWAGE

Hardware sales in Sri Lanka for the first six months of 2010 has shown improvement.

The country's hardware industry faced some difficulties in 2009 with corporate sales declining as a result of the financial conditions that prevailed and companies postponing planned projects, Information and Communication Technology of Sri Lanka Private Sector Development and Investment Promotion Program Head Fayaz Hudah said.

The telecom and apparel sectors undergoing tremendous cost pressures contributed to this. Many companies have also chosen to upgrade installed units, which also impacted new PC sales.

"Nearly 200,000 computers have been sold in Sri Lanka during the last year. But usually on the average there would be approximately 250,000 units sold annually, which has been the trend in previous years," he said. Currently, nearly nine percent of the population use broadband in Sri Lanka. There are fixed and mobile broadband subscribers and others who use broadband through common facilities. Regular usage numbers are still low and this needs to be improved in the future.

Some IT training providers in the country choose to focus on certain niche areas and on higher skill level, while a majority of training providers are focused on high volume common skill areas.

There are nearly 600 IT training centres in Sri Lanka, of which a few belong to a branch network.

There is a limited number of training providers who have more than 15 branches dispersed island wide. "There are many incentives available to those investing in training institutions in the North and the East from the Government and other non-governmental sources. These include both tax and cash benefits.

There is a certain lack of high-end training that is not available regularly in Sri Lanka.

Trainers have to be flown in from time to time to meet requirements. This is necessary when providing high value added services.

"Although ICTA does provide funding and support for such efforts, opportunities exist for training providers to take advantage," Hudah said.