Sri Lanka is one of the first country’s in the Asian region to offer 3G, 3.5G services as well as the High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) technology, which has enabled local subscribers to have access to not only voice communications, but also to a wide range of world class features such as video calling, video streaming, mobile TV, music streaming and high speed Internet. Mr. Priyantha Kariyapperuma, Director General, TRCSL said, "This is a testament to what the telecommunication industry in Sri Lanka has achieved thus far, being on par with the rest of the world."

Sri Lanka had the honor of holding the prestigious international "Next Generation Networks Standardization Forum" at the Hilton Colombo from April 7 - 10, 2009. This event was hosted by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka (TRCSL), in association with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization (CTO).

"This is the first time in Sri Lanka that all stakeholders in the intensely competitive local telecommunication industry will come together to participate in such a forum. This will be an ideal platform for the country to showcase how far the telecommunication industry has developed in terms of meeting the sophisticated needs of the local consumer through capacity building, by further consolidating its world class infrastructure as well as providing the latest global technology on offer," Mr. Priyantha Kariyapperuma, Director General, TRCSL further added.

Sri Lanka Telecom, Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel, Dialog Telekom, Lanka Bell, Suntel, Airtel, Tata Communications, Hutch, Tigo, Ericsson and ZTE are the proud sponsors of the event.

Distinguished speakers at the event were Mr. Priyantha Kariyapperuma, Director General, TRCSL, Mr. Malcolm Johnson, Director, Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB), ITU and Mr. Lalith Weeratunga, Secretary to the President of Sri Lanka and Chairman of TRCSL.