Financial Times

Dialog to support research in Moratuwa
By Akhry Ameer
Leading cellular operator Dialog GSM will facilitate telecommunications research in the country through the University of Moratuwa shortly. The mobile operator signed an agreement with the University of Moratuwa and its research arm, Uni-Consultancy Services (UNIC) for the establishment of a mobile communications research laboratory last week.

Titled the Dialog-University of Moratuwa Mobile Communications Research Laboratory, the unit will be funded by Dialog and will specialize in applied research mobile telecommunication technologies and Internet applications. The research lab to be housed within the Department of Electronic and Telecommunication Engineering at the university will be manned by a full-time research personnel and its activities linked to postgraduate research programme of the university.

Dialog chief, Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya at a media conference hailed the agreement as a hallmark partnership. He said the country's citizens deserve the best of services and the research should contribute towards this despite the common notion that research and development in these areas is not for third-world nations.

Professor Jayantha Wijesekera, Vice Chancellor of the University of Moratuwa added that Moratuwa is the only university in the country providing telecommunications engineering as an area of study. He said that as the university concentrates on applied research and created a healthy interaction with the industry, there are no reported cases of its graduates being unemployed.

The partnership that had been negotiated over an 18 month period will harness the strengths of all parties, such as Dialog's subscriber base as a test bed for R&D, technical support through its commercial equipment suppliers, and input through its Malaysia Telekom network.

The university would contribute into the partnership in the form of recognition for the research through academic awards, technology transfer with international research bodies, trained faculty in telecommunication related subjects, etc.

The concept of the research lab was floated after the university realized that though good research work was being carried out by undergraduates no one knows their potential including their parents. "So their innovative capabilities die-off. Even industries do not have the means to harness them," explained Professor Dileeka Dias who coordinated the partnership between the two entities.

The partnership was made possible through the university's research arm, Uni-Consultancy Services which is a company registered under the Registrar of Companies and functions as an entity capable of interacting with the industry.

Dialog GSM recently became the first local telecommunications company to notch the one-million mark in terms of its subscriber base. The company is also involved in various social responsibility programmes such as its technology scholarships that supports top performances at Ordinary and Advanced level examination while providing two scholarships to the Multi Media University in Cyber Jayah, Malaysia.

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