STC makes computers affordable to all Sri Lankans

State Trading Corporation (STC), together with HP , Microsoft and Intel, has begun a road show until 24 December at the Nawam Mawatha STC head office in conjunction with the announcement of providing affordable computers for Sri Lankans islandwide.

Established in 1972, the STC is one of the largest trading corporations in Sri Lanka, with a portfolio of products ranging from electronic goods to food items. The STC operates under the guidance of the Government with a long term goal of developing Sri Lanka by providing the very best to consumers, and ensuring stability in market price for various goods, and thereby protecting consumer welfare.

With this in mind the STC has partnered with Intel, Microsoft and HP Lanka to make computing affordable and in doing so developing and laying a springboard for IT usage.

A message from President Mahinda Rajapaksa states: “The younger generation of Sri Lanka needs to be broadly empowered with modern information and communication technologies. The future market for employment will depend entirely on these skills. For these reasons, our youth will be given more opportunities to improve their knowledge in these areas and information and communication technology will be introduced for accessing all services in the country.”

Under this scheme, laptops and desktop computers will be offered at very affordable prices on instalment-based payment schemes that can be tailored to suit any budget. HP computers will be powered by Intel processors and Genuine Microsoft operating systems while being maintained under HP’s three-year company warranty, ensuring the security and longevity of the product, and offering the very best experience to the consumer, and in doing so driving the growth of IT in the nation.

STC Chairman Pradeep Gunawardane said: “We hope to take computing to a new level of affordability and convenience, removing all the barriers that have denied people access to computing in the past. Through this program we hope to support the government in its quest to achieve 75% IT literacy by 2015 and turn Sri Lanka into an IT centred knowledge hub. To do this, we have partnered with three titans in their respective fields who share a similar vision for Sri Lanka’s IT infrastructure. We are confident that with these partnerships we will be able to definitively improve IT in Sri Lanka, bolstering it to reach the goals set by the Government.”