Speaking at the forum Mr. Lalith De Silva, Group CEO of SLT said, “Operators have a tremendous responsibility in delivering robust and reliable infrastructure, robust systems and maintain superior service levels. As a leading communication service provider in the country SLT group have clearly understood our duty as well the great opportunity to develop ICT infrastructure to enable digital government, e-commerce and digital entertainment”. He further stated that, “Today Company with its nation-wide telecommunication optical fibre backbone (National Backbone Network), has already built the platform to contribute towards the country’s expected goals of significant improvement in infrastructure developments that are taking place in the tourism and transportation, rapidly growing education, communications and information technology sectors. Sri Lanka in par with the global trends, even in Sri Lanka presently mobile penetration has reached the 100% and the broadband penetration is growing exponentially. At present, SLT facilitates all the operators and makes a robust contribution towards the booming mobile and broadband spaces in the country.” ICTA is the agency established by the Government of Sri Lanka to make the Digital Government a reality. Fortunately for our Country ICT leadership come from the highest office. His Excellency the President believes in ICT to transform this country to a SMART Sri Lanka, to create a globally competitive economy through adaptation of ICT in commerce and extending benefits of citizens through ICT. Always e-Government projects are partnered with SLT for facilitation of necessary infrastructure. SLT becomes a stakeholder in Government projects. As examples SLT provides the networks such as Nanasala which connects the telecenter of villages, LakGov network for connectivity among Government institutions, LEARN network which connects the Sri Lankan Universities, and Street CCTV camera network for traffic management among few projects we are supporting. As a result of eSriLanka initiave based on a comprehensive framework built on peace, equity and growth, country has achieved major strides in ICT. This is thanks to the efforts and industry leadership provided by ICTA. IT literacy has grown from 4% in 2005 to in excess of 40% in 2013, Global Network Readiness 69th position (2013) from 72 ( 2012) .Doing Business Index rose to 81st (2013) from 89th ( 2012) .A T Kearney Global Location Index Rank 21 out of 100 Countries. UNESCAP ICT leadership is bestowed upon our able Secretary to HE the President Mr. Lalith Weeratunge for last 2 Consecutive terms recognizing leadership provided by Sri Lanka Government for ICT enablement. SLT is now in the process of converting all customers into NGN – IP based services, served by a single platform. By now 50% of the customers have been migrated and expects to complete the target by the end of year 2014. This transformation paves SLT to operate with a single platform with IP architecture while enabling multiple services. It replaces the legacy multiple PSTN switching platforms through which the company is benefited with less operational costs in future. SLT has already begun Access network modernization. Copper Access network is replaced with Fiber rolling out as i-Sri Lanka Project. This will make SLT network capable of delivering 16Mbps bandwidth to 90% of the customers. 50% of this is also completed and expects to complete the project by end of year 2014. This will result in making all the customers enable with very high speed broadband access and with full-fledged IPTV services. Strategic partner for the FutureGov SAARC Summit 2013 Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT), the national telecommunication service provider is the strategic partner for the FutureGov SAARC Summit 2013 hosted by the ICT Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA). The FutureGov SAARC Summit, the country’s important ICT conference for Government policy makers, will be held in Colombo on 25th and 26th instant. “The SLT’s support to this important international event is certainly a valuable contribution towards more efficient e-Governance in the region”, ICTA CEO Reshan Dewapura says. “The Mahinda Chintana – Vision for the Future”, the Government’s policy statement holds out the hope of Sri Lanka becoming the regional hub in five sectors, one of which is the knowledge sector. The FutureGov SAARC Summit will focus on creating an environment that better enables the implementation of e-Government services thus paving the way for more effective and efficient e-Govenance in the region”, ICTA CEO emphasised. “Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) is proud and privileged to be the Strategic Partner of an event of this calibre that will bring together a rich combination of individuals from the SAARC region and with it, the opportunity to share valuable knowledge, experience and expertise across the region”, Sri Lanka Telecom Group CEO Lalith De Silva said. Download CEO's presentation Download conference brochure