Sri Lanka makes great strides in communication
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- Published on Thursday, 10 May 2012 14:47
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Sri Lanka has a great potential for providing public services via the mobile phone, as the country has the technology, creativity and a growing demand for such services. The Government is ready to provide key citizen services via the mobile phone.
This has been stated by the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) CEO Reshan Dewapura participating at the internationally renowned World Summit Awards (WSA) ICT conference held in Cairo, recently. More than 40 countries participated in the conference, which honoured the best e-content creators around the world in 2012.
He has said that with mobile phones becoming integrated into the lives of Sri Lankans, their use for providing public service is becoming more and more pervasive. Sharing the success of the e-Development program in Sri Lanka with the world ICT leaders, he has said Sri Lanka’s flagship project where the mobile phone could be used, the Government Information Service project (1919) has extended its areas of service thus increasing people’s comfort.
He has pointed out that information service, e.g., on ‘train timetables’ and ‘current status of applications for the national identity card’ or ‘police clearance certificate’ is now a widely used service.
Explaining the ICT road map of the country, Dewapura says that the past experience will help harness a fruitful future in mobile technology, and the Sri Lankan talents and innovations will induce further growth.
Devapura referring to online payment solutions, said that currently some of the solutions were available via Lanka Gate. Examples are issuance of vehicle revenue licences and online issuance of Sri Lankan visa to foreign nationals. ICTA CEO said that although payment could not yet be made via mobile phones, plans were under way for payment through Lanka Gate via mobile phones in the future.
He has affirmed that in the future the Lanka Gate will be used for all payments required for Government services. Explaining further he has said that Sri Lanka witnesses the power of the mobile to empower millions with information, content and services. Sri Lanka is ahead of many countries in mobile users with 90 per cent population coverage with 18 million mobile subscribers out of its population of about 21 million. (niz)
