Sri Lanka has not abandoned the Google Loon project, said Dr. Ajith Madurapperuma, Acting CEO, ICTA Sri Lanka. He said that Google has informed the ICTA to sort out frequency and other issues that cropped up in Sri Lanka with regard to approvals before going ahead with the project.
“Several flagship programmes have been launched by ICTA during the year and will continue in 2018 to provide digital inclusion for all Sri Lankans,” Dr. Madurapperuma said. Using information and knowledge as key transformative drivers, ICTA projects offer digital tools to enhance governance and services and digitally empower citizens supporting growth and development opportunities for all.
ICTA has also taken initiatives to eliminate health disparities through an integrated interposable healthcare sector. Under the digital health initiative, 13 hospitals have been completed, connected with this system and another 37 hospitals are to be completed in 2018. Dr. Madurapperuma said that the Lanka Government Network (LGN) to network all 3,500 government institutions too is in progress. “We have identified 860 for the first phase which would be completed by end 2018.”
ICTA is in the process of digitizing 45 land registries to offer online services relating to land registration. In addition, ICTA is in the process of upgrading e-revenue licence system which was introduced way back in 2010.
Sri Lanka is the only South Asian country who has acceded to the Budapest convention on cybercrimes.
ICTA has also planned to launch the second phase of Public WiFi project or system in the near future.
According to the country’s ‘Road Map 2015-2020’, telecommunication and digital infrastructure have been identified as two key areas defining the nation’s future. The current employment in the ICT sector is estimated to be 148,000 with over 225 tech startups in existence.
0 comments: