Telecoms & IT

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.