Sri Lanka's strengths in information technology can be summarized as the following:
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High educational standards, including the highest literacy rate in South Asia |
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Low cost talented labor, for both skilled tasks such as software developments and unskilled tasks such as data entry |
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Strong government support for telecommunication infrastructure development |
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Deregulated and flexible trading policies for import and export of high-tech equipment |
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Large English speaking population |
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Strong domestic demand for telecommunication products and services |
It is only in the recent decade or so that information technology has started to receive the attention it is worthy of. Spearheaded by visionaries such as Dr. Arthur C. Clarke, an ìadopted nativeî for the past 20 years, the telecommunications industry is as of recently reaching sub-standard proportions as far as the rest of the developing world is concerned.
Deregulation of the telecommunications network has seen licenses for cellular telephones and electronic mail being issued to private companies. The government has also attempted to improve and extend the network, but the ethnic conflict has hindered progress. Subscriber direct dialing facilities are gradually being extended to more provincial areas. Almost all exchanges are fully automatic. World Bank funding has been secured to increase exchange capacity in Colombo and between some of the island's principal cities. Software exports have been increasing steadily. Sri Lanka netted Rs. 100 million ($ 2 million) in 1993 from software exports by 7 out of the 30 currently operating local software manufacturers. In the near future, Sri Lanka has the potential to be a major player in the software export market along with India.
