Saturday Dec 14, 2024
Saturday Dec 14, 2024
Monday, 18 June 2018 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Sri Lanka Telecom successfully presented one of the globally emerging topics of the Digital Economy, through a knowledge-sharing program titled ‘TelcoNext - Empowering the Digital Economy, Together’.
It was held at the Cinnamon Lakeside Colombo recently with the participation of a large number of tech savvy professionals in the corporate, IT, BPO, BPM and public sectors as well as academics in Sri Lanka.
The program addressed areas pertaining to the much talked of ‘Digital Economy’ supported with global trends, Digital Sri Lanka initiatives, IoT implementation, hyperconnectivity, digital services, competitor behaviour, softwarisation and virtualisation of the operators to face future demands.
By modernising the ICT infrastructure, which is the backbone of the digital economy, both Sri Lanka Telecom and Mobitel presented the promising capabilities to create greater agility to accelerate e-commerce market development in Sri Lanka.
During the forum, keynote speaker Eng. Anuradha Udunuwara said: “The success of startups today is mainly because of the readiness of the modern ICT infrastructure and platforms already built by operators in the country, which is the backbone of the digital economy. On the other hand operators should not look at startups as threats to their traditional businesses, and operators should make collaborations in their long-term business strategies instead of competing.”
Udunuwara is a visiting Industrial Fellow of the University of Hertfordshire UK, Faculty of Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization UK, a guest lecturer at the University of Peradeniya and also a senior telecommunications expert.
The panellist was Mobitel Engineering and Operations Senior General Manager Eng. Rasantha Hettithanthrige and the moderator was Dr. Shamil Appathurai, who serves as an advisor and lecturer at the Sri Lanka Technology Campus (SLTC) and is also the Head of Network Strategy and Transformation at Mobitel.
As the national ICT solutions provider, SLT will continue to bring new topics through the ‘TelcoNext’ sessions, as a series of knowledge sharing programs to create greater agility to accelerate e-commerce market development in Sri Lanka.
Access to ICT or digital infrastructure is critical to the development of all aspects of a nation’s economy. The year 2018 will continue to see the growth of the digital economy and the better integration of Internet of Things and digital services. Sri Lanka’s global connectivity via undersea cables and the rollout of 4.5G, and fibre optic broadband services will strengthen the emerging ICT sector. The highly competitive environment will result in wide coverage, fast speeds and low retail tariffs which will benefit customers and usher the country towards digital economic growth.
Digital transformation is a key driver of sweeping change in the modern world. The digital market is developing into a global digital economy. Digitalisation has the potential to improve the quality of life and move towards greater societal good. The telecommunication industry is at the heart of global digitalisation as a key enabler by providing the essential connectivity infrastructure for functioning in the digital economy.
