SLT-MOBITEL, the national Information and Communications Technology (ICT) solutions leader, and global gaming and eSports technology company Swarmio Media, recently announced the launch of their upgraded SLT Gaming & eSports Platform – slt.lk/esports - the first and only gaming and esports platform owned by a telco in Sri Lanka.

The eSports Gamer Platform is a web-based, user-intuitive portal which provides cyber athletes with exclusive access to competitive tournaments, challenges, community game servers, private game servers, eSports content and streamed feeds from some of the world’s best influencers. The portal will also deliver a fully optimized, ultra-low-latency gaming experience in Sri Lanka.

The upgraded platform will revolve around the 4 major aspects of the Gamer Lifestyle – Play, Content, Community and Rewards. This will offer customers unique streaming capabilities, personalized player profiles, loyalty points with many benefits and many more special features and rewards. SLT-MOBITEL also offers special ‘Gaming Bundles’, comprising a next generation Gamer Internet solution for gamers and fans across the country. These Gaming Bundles combined with platform access will give customers the opportunity to have the best gaming experience in the country at a low data cost for an ever-expanding set of games. The bundle offers anytime data quotas via Gamer Lite, Gamer Premium and Streamer Premium Gaming Bundles making this the first time in the history of eSports that gamer specific data bundles have been provided.

An event marking the launch of the platform was held at the Ministry of Sports, in the presence of Hon. Namal Rajapaksa MP, Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs; His Excellency David McKinnon, the High Commissioner for Canada in Sri Lanka; Mr. Rohan Fernando, the Chairman of SLT Group; Mr. Lalith Seneviratne, Chief Executive Officer of SLT Group; Mr. Kiththi Perera, Chief Executive Officer of SLT, Mr. Chandika Vitharana, Chief Executive Officer (Acting) of Mobitel and Mr. Priyantha Fernandez, Chief Operating Officer of SLT.

Speaking at the launch of the new eSports platform, Hon. Namal Rajapaksa, Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs mentioned the importance of getting Sri Lanka on par with global sport trends. He also expressed his gratitude towards SLT for supporting the ministry’s vision of developing the eSports economy in Sri Lanka. “Considering the global reach of gaming, this is definitely a step in the right direction. My thanks and congratulations to SLT for their innovation, for making waves in the industry and engaging youth involvement. The youth are the future of this country. Enabling them to tap into their areas of expertise and develop their skills can only be beneficial to Sri Lanka.”

Sri Lanka is a member country of the International eSports Federation (IESF) with the Sri Lanka eSports Association (SLESA) representing the interests of the country in esports and gaming. eSports also has the distinction of being a sporting discipline recognized by the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOC SL).

Mr. Prabhath Dahanayake, Chief Marketing Officer of SLT articulated the objectives of SLT’s support in enabling the youth of the country to take their eSports skills to the next level by making it accessible to all. “eSports and gaming has become one of the most exciting growth sectors we’ve seen emerge in the last decade. As Sri Lanka’s number 1 digital lifestyle enabler in the country, we are committed to working with the best industry specialists and taking a market leading position in Sri Lanka and the Indian subcontinent with gaming and eSports. Our goal is to ensure that our customers have access to the most state-of-the-art platform in the market which delivers the ultimate gaming experience. We thank the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs and Swarmio Media for their support and partnership in facilitating recognition of the importance of eSports, a booming phenomenon due to the global recognition and development of the industry.”

Understanding that most eSports games were played on internationally hosted gaming platforms and servers, in 2016 SLT partnered with Swarmio Media, a gaming and eSports platform that completely integrates an edge computing technology to tackle lag, to host Sri Lanka’s first and only eSports platform. Swarmio’s proprietary Latency-optimized Edge Computing (LEC) infrastructure geo-optimizes the game servers in real time to deliver the ultimate gaming experience for gamers. This partnership ensures that customers have access to the most state-of-the-art platform on the market which delivers the ultimate gaming experiences. Established and aspiring cyber athletes, gamers, professional streamers will find that this is the platform for them.

“We are very excited to partner with SLT-MOBITEL in Sri Lanka,” said Mr. Vijai Karthigesu, the CEO of Swarmio Media. “With the launch of the new internet gamer platform, SLT-MOBITEL is taking full advantage of the surging interest in gaming and eSports and delivering to its customers not only access to the best gaming content but crucially the ultimate lag-free experience for players.”

SLT-MOBITEL is no stranger to the Sri Lankan eSports arena, having continued to facilitate eSports in the country since the inaugural SLT eSports Championship in 2015, which proved to be an instant success. The year 2018 marked the initiation of a new era of countrywide eSports events presented by SLT-MOBITEL, aimed at promoting eSports and strengthening the SLT brand offering to the youth segment. SLT eSports is powered exclusively by Sri Lanka’s Number 1 broadband network - SLT Fibre, famous for its ultra-low latency, and dedicated and reliable connectivity, which is compulsory for eSports and gaming. Showcasing speeds of over 100Mbps and optimized packet routing paths, cyber athletes receive an unparalleled broadband experience.