Telecoms & IT
From The Report: Sri Lanka 2016
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Sri Lanka’s vibrant telecommunications industry has benefitted from two decades of market liberalisation, with five competing mobile operators driving retail tariffs to some of the lowest levels worldwide. End users and operators benefit from the country’s position as a swing point between Europe and East Asia, and its advantageous geographic location atop a host of high-capacity submarine cable networks. With national ICT policies and development dating back to the early 1980s, Sri Lanka’s IT sector stands at the regional forefront today, and is slated for further expansion on the back of both the government and the private sector’s intensifying focus on increasing exports and employment within the sector. Although unable to compete with its regional competitors in terms of size and volume, Sri Lanka’s ICT sub-segments – most notably business process outsourcing– have risen to become major employers and economic strengths, with the country targeting niche services in a bid to expand its global IT reach.

This chapter contains interviews with Hans Wijayasuriya, CEO, Dialog Axiata; and Mack Gill, CEO, MillenniumIT.

Articles from this Chapter

Overview

Strength in numbers: A competitive marketplace has helped form a dynamic sector with an array of choices for consumers
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Sri Lanka’s vibrant telecommunications industry has benefitted from two decades of market liberalisation, with five competing mobile operators driving retail tariffs to some of the lowest levels worldwide. End users and operators benefit from the country’s position as a swing point between Europe and East Asia, and its advantageous geographic location atop a host of high-capacity submarine cable networks. Unlike in many other markets, fixed-line subscriptions have not shown the same rapid recent…

Interview

Driver of growth: OBG talks to Hans Wijayasuriya, CEO, Dialog Axiata
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Interview:Hans Wijayasuriya Considering its demographic profile, how saturated is Sri Lanka’s telecoms market? HANS WIJAYASURIYA: In terms of nominal penetration, the numbers are north of 100%, but there is a significant incidence of multiple subscriptions, so real penetration sits somewhere between 60% and 65%. In that sense, there is room to grow in terms of new users. Adoption among younger segments is increasing, and the same can be said of previously under-penetrated age and demographic…

Analysis

Town and country: The government has teamed up with the private sector to expand connectivity in urban and rural areas
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Already at the forefront of digital innovation, and boasting internet penetration rates much higher than those of its regional neighbours, Sri Lanka is slated to become the first country with universal broadband coverage, as a result of a government initiative to provide internet services nationwide, in addition to a highly publicised partnership with tech giant Google. Although these services will not be provided free of charge, and some stakeholders have questioned the necessity of high-speed broadband…

Overview

Smart growth: A dynamic sector continues to evolve, and tax incentives are helping to drive innovation and foreign investment
OBG
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With national ICT policies and development dating back to the early 1980s, Sri Lanka’s IT sector stands at the regional forefront today, and is slated for further expansion on the back of both the government and the private sector’s intensifying focus on expanding exports and employment within the sector. Although unable to compete with its regional competitors in terms of size and volume, Sri Lanka’s ICT sub-segments – most notably business process outsourcing (BPO) – have risen to become…

Interview

On the rise: OBG talks to Mack Gill, CEO, MillenniumIT
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Interview:Mack Gill How can Sri Lanka best compete globally as an emerging hub for knowledge services? MACK GILL: There is clearly a unique place for Sri Lanka in terms of IT, and more specifically, engineering and building intellectual property. There is a numbers game in the software business, and then there is a knowledge game. In India it has historically been a numbers game, with a wide range of services offered at a low price point. This has worked well over the last 20 years, but has…