The launch of Mobile Monday Colombo (MoMo) is a valuable move helping Lanka to become the ‘knowledge hub’ envisaged in the Mahinda Chintana Idiri Dekma, said ICT Agency of Sri Lanka Chief Operating Officer Reshan Dewapura.

Dewapura said so while participating at the media conference held at Hotel Galadari, Colombo on Friday (23) after the launch of Mobile Monday Colombo .

The Centre of Excellence for Telco and Mobile of the Sri Lanka Association for Software and Services Companies (SLASSCOM) in collaboration with Mobile Monday International organised the said launch of Mobile Monday Colombo.

Expressing his views further at the conference, Dewapura said the ICT A was pleased to be associated with Mobile Monday (MoMo) Colombo as it would greatly contribute to make the benefits of ICT accrue to the people.

"More than four years ago, President Mahinda Rajapaksa had paved the way for the speedy development of the country by taking steps to make ICT play a pivotal role in development. This has borne fruit. The ICT literacy rate which was only four per cent in 2004 will be 50 to 60 per cent in a few years. The ICT BPO industry is now Sri Lanka’s fifth largest foreign exchange earner. The mobile penetration in Sri Lanka has been astounding and on a par with the best mobile penetration in South Asia. With about 780 million mobile phones currently in use in neighbouing India, there is hope that the billionth mobile user mark in South Asia will be reached this year warranting the setting up of the Billionth Award. We adopt a two-pronged approach towards ICT. One aspect is to use ICT as an enabler, the other is to develop ICT itself. Developing both these aspects will help Sri Lanka become the ‘knowledge hub serving as a key link between the East and the West’ and the Wonder of Asia parallel its central positions in the naval, aviation, commerce and energy sectors," Dewapura said . Referring specifically to IT/Mobile, Dewapura emphasised: " IT/Mobile has a role both in generating employment / increasing exports as well as improving the living standards for all across the society."