Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) has gotten a key project to provide high-speed internet to the Government. 

The Government said yesterday the Cabinet approved a proposal to award the contract to SLT to provide high-speed and secure internet connections to public institutions.

Sri Lanka Telecom will be responsible for providing 860 Government institutions with high-speed internet service connections under this contract which covers the first phase of digitalisation of State institutions under the Digital Sri Lanka project.

The total cost of the contract is valued at Rs. 4 billion. 

“The main reason to award this contract to Sri Lanka Telecom is that they are the only company which has the infrastructure capacity to carry out the work required. However, we have included a clause that they have to share 30% of the workload with private sector telecom service provider Dialog in areas where they can contribute,” explained Telecommunication and Digital Infrastructure Minister Harin Fernando, who presented the Cabinet paper for approval. The proposal to award the contract was recommended by the Cabinet Appointed Negotiating Committee. 

The project titled ‘Lanka Government Network 2.0’ is being implemented by the Information and Communication Technology Agency. 

According to the Minister, the groundwork of laying the fibre optic cable network has been completed covering two-thirds of the country.  The first phase is expected to be completed within 180 days. 

Celkon in talks for a JV with telcos in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh

Hyderabad-based Celkon Mobiles is in talks with telecom players in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh for a possible tie up after joining hands with Dubai’s largest telco, Etisalat, Economic Times reported citing a top executive.Through such tie-ups and focus on export, the company expects its export revenue to grow from less than 5% currently to 10% in a couple of years.

Speaking to reporters in Hyderabad on Monday, Celkon Mobiles Executive Director Murali Retineni said: “We are at an advance stage of talks with telecom players in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh for a possible tie up wherein our mobile phones would be bundled with their SIM cards and sold in the market.”

He was speaking on the sidelines of the launch of Celkon’s two new phones, Celkon U and Celkon Mega priced at Rs. 5,999 and Rs. 6,400 respectively.

The company had earlier joined hands with Dubai’s largest telecom player Etisalat Group. “With such tie-ups and expansion of its export markets, the company expects to increase share of export revenues from less than 5% to 10% in a couple of years,” said Retineni.

To support the growing demand, the company is setting up its second production plant in Tirupati with an investment of Rs. 50 crore after one unit in Hyderabad with a collective capacities of 10 lakh phones a year.