Lanka planning Long Term Evolution (LTE) network
Indunil Hewage
Sri Lanka is planning on launching the Long Term Evolution (LTE)
network in the near future, says Information and Communication Agency of
Sri Lanka, Chief Operating Officer, Reshan Dewapura.
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Chief Operations Officer, Reshan Dewapura, Dumindra Rathnayaka
CEO of Etisalat Pvt Limited and other officials at the event. |
He made these sentiments addressing a workshop on ' Mobile Data
Revolution in Sri Lanka', organized by Etisalat Sri Lanka.
We believe that there is a huge potential for mobile market in Sri
Lanka and globally, mobile internet usage has been a vital area for the
country's development and economy.
Mobile phone penetration in Sri Lanka has been at a rate of a 100%
and today, mobile phones have become a channel to reach out to every
citizen in the country. Dewapura noted that, "In 2003, Sri Lanka
embarked on national e- development initiative 'e -Sri Lanka' and this
initiative has made the government e-enabled, therefore taking the
government to the consumers on an electronic format. Up to now, a total
number of 116 e -Services and 86 different data sets have now been
implemented thereby enabling general public to access and obtain
information about various services through multiple channels.
Specific to the mobile devices, separate mobile code has also been
set up to access government information services and four specific
mobile applications are also available for downloads."
"With the continuing growth of mobile phone usage and the convergence
of voice and data, applications specific to mobile phones have also
began to get created. There are four million Sri Lankan citizens on the
internet today which is equal to 20% of the total population in the
country, and about half of them access the internet either through
mobile phones.
The total data consumption in Sri Lanka via wireless broadband
dongles or mobile phones is currently estimated at about 2000 Terabytes
per month, In 2010, this was 250 terabytes per month, which is an
eightfold growth.
This shows how mobile data has evolved and we can expect this to grow
even at a more exponential rate in the future," Dewapura said. |
