Technology Sector Opportunities

Telecommunications, software, and data technology are a crucial component of growth within the services sector, producing steady growth in 2018. In 2018, gross ICT earnings amounted to $995 million, about an 8.9% rise over the previous year. In 2018, the country launched the fifth generation (5 G) technology adoption process. Software providers in the United States have been successful in selling solutions to private customers and some agencies in the public sector. (Data Source: Sri Lanka Export Development Board). 

The newly elected government plans to invest strategically in new technologies and integrate such innovations with the education system, manufacturing sector, and the economy.

·         Plans to make Sri Lanka as a Global Innovation Hub – Sri Lanka will maximize the practice of the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Biotechnology, Robotics, Augmented Reality, Cloud Computing, Nanotechnology, and 3D Printing and through these innovative measures establish Sri Lanka as a Global Innovation Hub.

·         Digital Government - Using new methodologies and adopting new Internet-based technologies, public services such as obtaining National Identity Cards, Passports, Birth Certificates, Death Certificates, Driving Licenses, copies of deeds, etc., could be speedily and efficiently handled through nine (09) Citizen Service Centers to be established, one in each Province.

·         A Digital and Electronic Payment System will be established for citizens to pay traffic fines with ease and without any hassle.

·         A new e-Procurement system would be introduced, thereby ensuring that bribery and corruption would eliminate.

·         Establish a countrywide High-Speed Optical Transmission System and high speed 5G Mobile Broadband System to facilitate data transmission.

·         Digital Cities with digital monitoring and administrative centers will be established to address water and electricity usage, traffic congestion, and disaster situations.

·         The government will introduce mobile and digital payment system along with the necessary physical infrastructure and legal provisions to handle all local and international financial transactions.

·         Cross border e-Commerce and International e-Payment system will be put in place to handle all international trade and financial transactions electronically, along with the required legal provisions.

·         Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry and the Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) industry would be developed to make export earnings of USD 3 billion by 2025. To realize this, we will set up IT centers and BPO centers in our connecting cities.

·          Maximum support will be given to local and foreign entrepreneurs to develop software for the international market in Sri Lanka.

OSL Take: Sri Lanka is emerging as a destination of choice in a variety of main areas as a regional IT Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). In 2017, AT Kearney ranked Sri Lanka 11th among the world's top 50 outsourcing destinations, moving up three slots from 2016. The computer industry in Sri Lanka produces world-class products and has expanded significantly over the past decade. Telecommunications, banking, financial, and insurance (BFSI) and software testing included in the software services sector.

Sri Lanka’s ICT and digital infrastructure sectors are on a growth path creating many business/investment opportunities in the two industries. The government of Sri Lanka has also given priority to digital infrastructure development and widening the ICT education sector and offered many incentives, thereby increasing the connectivity while eliminating interferences and enhancing data services to both enterprise and consumer users. Such technology will help optimize business efficiency, which is an attractive infrastructure commodity to investors. OSL also sees the possibility for investors to lease spectrum resources for the further expansion of the telco sector.