Sri Lanka is on the verge of moving to the next phase in the telecom sector, as Telecommunication Regulatory Commission ((TRCSL)) will start offering the 5G commercial spectrum to local mobile operators by the end of this month.
Director General, TRC, Madhushanka Dissanayake said that they have received the methodology for the 5G spectrum distribution among the four local telco companies through the technical assistance of the World Bank. “this will make the 5G spectrum distribution very transparent.”
On December 22, 2023, the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL) published a public announcement. The public consultation will focus on Spectrum Assignment for Advanced Broadband Services, such as 5G. In May this year TRCSL will offer nine spectrum lots for a period of 10 years. He also disclosed that in a bid to broadbase ICT education for schools TRCSL would invest around Rs. one billion towards providing infrastructure to schools in a new project that is to be launched soon.
“We will use part of the money received from mobile operators to us via taxes and other similar ways towards this project. “Under the project we will provide smart boards and other infrastructure to schools.”
In addition, the Gamata Sandivadanaya program to bridge the digital gap in rural areas is also in progress with the similar objective and under this program almost all schools in the Kegalle District are now covered.”
He also said that the TRCSL is not a regulator but wants to play the role of promoter of the ICT sector in Sri Lanka. “To this end we have talked to all the operators and have succeeded in getting all of them to share common infrastructure rather than investing in them separately which would be highly costly for individual operators. Similarly, there were several other issues among the operators and we have mediated and these issues have been ironed out and taken some landmark decisions with them. We must also thank them for assisting us in our endeavor to take connectivity to rural areas and special to schools”.
Meanwhile, Director of Hutchison Asia Telecommunications (HAT), Anne Chen, participated in the donation of 130 e-bikes to teachers in rural schools in partnership with the Ministry of Education by Hutch. She said that they welcome this move. “We will also invest in 5G.” she said.
At the event HUTCH Sri Lanka demonstrated its commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability by distributing 130 electric bicycles (e-bikes), through an exclusive partnership with the Ministry of Education, to rural schools and their staff across Sri Lanka under the initiative “Uplifting Education through Sustainable Mobility.”
Shirajiv Sirimane