Sri Lanka is starting post-graduate university courses using broadband mobile links provided by Mobitel, a celco, to remotely lecture students, officials said.

The mobile learning of 'mlearning' system was developed by the University of Colombo, Mobitel and the IT firm Microsoft.

"This is a hybrid system of learning, which includes traditional learning through workshops, seminars, virtual classroom environment, e-learning and learning with the use of mobile phones," says Lakshman Dissanayake, the former head of the university's graduate studies department who initiated the program.

The first 'mLearning' course is a diploma in marketing.

Mobitel chief executive Suren Amarasekera says the biggest hindrance for online education the low household computer and internet penetration in the country.

"Look at the number of PC's in the country, it is less than a million, far less than a million," says Amarasekera.

Students can log into the program with any web third generation (3G) enabled device such as a laptop, a personal digital assistant (PDA) or a mobile phone.

Student can log in to participate and interact in live lectures conducted by the university academic staff or guest lectures from anywhere.

They can also download recorded files.

Officials say student enrolling in the program will receive a mobile enabled laptop and a broadband connection from Mobitel free of charge. (LBO)