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TRCSL expediting project to provide 4G and broadband connectivity to the entire country
View(s):The Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka is expediting a project to strengthen mobile network services across the country.
TRCSL Director General Oshada Senanayake said ‘the Gamata Sanniwedanaya’ project was initiated with the core objective of ensuring that no area was left uncovered with broadband connectivity.
“We will continue to actively drive ahead with initiatives to ensure 100 percent connectivity and eradicate the digital divide in the country,” he said.
With the aim of providing internet facility to the entire country, he said the commission has also given importance to the adoption of fiber connection and 4G connectivity.
To implement the project, the TRCSL has collected information from 331 divisional secretariats countrywide. The data analysis would be used to identify the under-served regions, the DG said.
“Startups have begun in 14,000 Grama Niladhari divisions,” he said. “This project has a major commitment to take broadband to the remotest regions of the island and ensure an equally good quality of service in the urban and rural sectors.”
For instance, in the Ratnapura district, the commission believed that 37 towers should be erected to cover the whole area, he said.
The DG said that with the project’s implementation, the digitalisation of the country, including schools and hospitals, will be fast-tracked.
He said that once the project was completed, the TRCSL’s goal of making 4G coverage available countrywide would be achieved soon.
It is unfair to request the private companies to build the infrastructure. The government should invest in such infrastructure to get productive results, Mr. Senanayake said.
“Recently we visited Badureliya in the Kalutara district and technical planning was made to ensure 4G connectivity for the area where students have to go outdoors if they wanted to get 4G connectivity for academic activities” he said, adding that there were areas which did not even have 2G connectivity.
“One year has passed since we started this. The endorsement is to ensure operators are willing to support this endeavor without hindrance,” he said.
Apart from the budgetary allocations, the TRCSL also hoped to draw funds for the project from the telecommunication levy. In the Budget 2021, the Government identified telecommunication as a priority and announced it would allocate Rs. 15,000 million to the Telecom Development Fund.
The project was going ahead in Kurunegala and Ratnapura. More areas would be selected and work would go on parallelly, Mr. Senanayake said.