A political, economic, and technological overview

1

• A political, economic, and technological
  overview
  
• Wireless Communication
• March 10, 2008
• Yousef Qassim

2
General Information

• Official Name Democratic Socialist Republic of
  Sri Lanka
  
• Location Sri Lanka is a tropical island lies in
  the Indian Ocean, to the southeast of Arabian Sea
  and to the southwest of the Bay of Bengal.
  
• Most of its land is flat with mountains in the
  south central region.
  
• Government Democratic Socialist Republic
• Capital Colombo
• Official Languages Sinhala, Tamil.
• Independence From UK
• Declared Feb 4,1948
• Republic May 22, 1972
• Area65610 km2
• Population 20,926,315(2007)
• Total GDP 26.8 billion
• GDP per capita 1355
• Currency rupee

3
Names

• Sri Lanka was known by many names.
• Ancient Greek geographers called it Taprobane.
• Arabs called it Serendib.
• Ceilão was given by Portuguese in 1505 its
  translated after that into English as Ceylon.
  
• In 1972, the official name of the country was
  changed to "Free, Sovereign and Independent
  Republic of Sri Lanka".
  
• In 1978, it was changed again to "Democratic
  Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka".
  

4
History

• One of the old references about the Sri Lanka
  Island was founded in the Indian epic Ramayana.
  
• It mentions the emperor Ravana as monarch of
  Lanka.
  
• The most ancient inhabitants of Sri Lanka were
  ancestors of Veddas or Veddahs and were ruled by
  monarchs.
  
• Sri Lanka was occasionally invaded by southern
  Indian kingdoms.
  
• Buddhism arrived in the third century BC by
  Indians.
  

5
History Continued

• The important of Sri Lanka is because its
  strategic place as a port for trading between
  Middle East, Persia, Burma, Thailand, Malaysia,
  Indonesia and other parts of the Southern Asia.
• It was known to the European explorers of Asia
  and a place for Arab.
  
• In the early 16th century, Sri Lanka was ruled by
  three kingdoms Kandy in the central hills, Kotte
  at the Western coast, and Yarlpanam (Anglicised
  Jaffna) in the north.
• Portuguese were the first people invade Sri Lanka
  in 1505.
  
• In the 17th century Dutch came and take over the
  possession of the Portuguese.
  
• In 1976 the British came and take the control
  over the island.
  
• in 1815 it becomes totally under the British rule
  after the fall of Kandy the last kingdom of the
  three kingdoms were in that time.

6
History Continued

• In the British rule tea, cinnamon, rubber,
  coffee, sugar, and indigo plantation were
  established in Sri Lanka.
  
• The British bring a large number of workers from
  Indian Tamil to work in plantation.
  
• They also established modern schools, colleges,
  churches and roads.
  
• In 1930, a struggle for independence rise over
  the denial of civil rights and the mistreatment
  of native people by the British colony.
  
• In 1948, Sri Lanka became an independent country.
  The name Ceylon was changed in 1972 to Sri
  Lanka.
  
• Since 1983, there have been on and off civil wars
  between the government and the Liberation Tigers
  of Tamil Eelam or Tamil Tigers.

7
Demography

• Land Area 64,740 sq km .Total area 65,610 sq
  km.
  
• Population estimated by 20,926,315 (2007).
• Population density 818 persons / km2.
• Growth rate 1.1, birth rate 15.63/1000, infant
  mortality rate6.5/1000, life expectancy 74.8
  
• Official languages Sinhala spoken by 74. Tamil
  18 .
  
• 10 speak English commonly used in government.
• Races The Sinhalese 73.8, Moors 7.2, Indian
  Tamil 4.6, Sri Lankan Tamil 3.9, other 0.5,
  unspecified 10.
  
• Religion Buddhist 70. Other religions are,
  Muslim 8, Hindu 7, and Christian 6.
  

8
Government and Political

• Sri Lanka government is a mixture of the
  presidential and parliamentary system.
  
• The president is the head of state, the commander
  in chief of the armed force, and the head of
  government.
  
• The president elected for six years term.
• The parliament is formed of 225 member
  legislature elected by universal voting.
  
• The president selects his ministers from the
  elected members of parliament.
  
• The Constitution of Sri Lanka establishes a
  democratic, socialist republic in Sri Lanka.
  
• President Mahinda Rajapaksa
• Prime minister Ratnasiri Wickermanayake
• World Asian Development Bank Sri Lanka is one
  of the world most unstable countries.
  
• The economist labels it a flawed democracy in
  its 2006 ranking.
  
• US state department classified it as a stable
  democracy in 2005.
  

9
Economy

• Official currency is the Sri Lanka rupee.
• The economic depend on agriculture.
• 14 of the land is arable.
• Products rice, sugarcane, pulses, oilseed,
  spices, tea, rubber, coconuts, milk, eggs, hides,
  beef, and fish.
  
• Labor force estimated about 8.08 million.
  Services 45, agriculture 38, industry 17 .
  
• Famous industries are processing of rubber, tea,
  coconuts, tobacco, and other agricultural
  products. Natural resources are limestone
  graphite, mineral sands, gems, phosphates, clay,
  and hydropower.
• Exports 6.442 billion, Textiles, apparel, tea,
  spices, diamonds, emeralds, rubies, rubber, and
  coconut products
  
• Imports 8.37 billion, textiles fabrics, mineral
  products, petroleum, foodstuffs, machinery, and
  transportation equipment.
  
• GDP per capita is 1350

10
Education

• literacy rate 92
• 83 had their Secondary education.
• In 1945, A free education system was started by
  Dr. C. Kannangara a former minister of education.
  
  
• An education system dictates 9 years of
  Compulsory Schooling for every child.
  
• Mr. Kannangara led the establishment of Great
  Central Schools in verity parts of the country to
  provide education to Sri Lanka population.
  
• A large number of private and international
  schools have been established in the recent
  decades.
  
• Most secondary schools in Sri Lanka provide
  education from grades 1 to 13 in the same
  institution.
  
• Majority of schools are public and centered
  around the large cities while rural schools tend
  to be coeducational.
  
• Sri Lanka has around 16 public universities such
  as University of Colombo, and University of
  Kelaniya Sri Lanka.
  
• Large number of students denied entry into formal
  universities . Less than 12 of qualified
  students been accepted
  
• short of spaces in these facilities and the lack
  of investment to establish private universities .
  
  

11
Health

• Huge lack in the health system
• The main reason for this is the low allocation of
  government funds in the health sectors.
  
• The fund is 1.4 of the GDP comparing with 3 in
  the middle income countries
  
• Number of hospitals 578
• Number of doctors 8531
• Docotr density 3090 patients per doctor.
• Number of nurses 23,030
• Number of physicians10,479
• This situation results in a shortage of
  medicines, doctors, qualified nursing, technical
  staff, and the inability of poor people to get
  treatment at private hospitals.
• The most area need improvements in health sectors
  are the war affected area, hill country
  plantations and remote rural areas.
  
• Most of field hospitals use volunteer and its
  very limited.
  

12
Rural Area and Poverty

• About 80 of the population lives in the rural
  areas.
  
• The rural poor account for 95 of the country
  poor.
  
• The poverty rate is about 25, about 5 million
  people living under the poverty line of 12 per
  person monthly. Another 3 million people living
  on 15 per person monthly.
• After tsunami, hundreds of thousands of people
  at risk of falling into poverty.
  
• More than 40 of rural poor are small farmers.
• Most of rural poor are in conflict area in the
  east, north and in the central not conflict
  area.
  
• These areas are lack of infrastructure such as
  road, electricity, and irrigation and
  communication facilities.
  
• The lacks of these facilities limit peoples
  opportunities to earn money through off-farm
  activities.
  
• In six of the seven provinces, 7 people out of 10
  dont have access to electricity and half of the
  population doesnt have access to safe drinking
  water.
• Agriculture is the major employer in rural areas
  and an important stimulus for other sectors of
  the economy.
  
• Small-scale farmers produce most of the
  agricultural output.
  
• Their production systems are hampered by
  neglect, poor economies of scale, low investment
  levels resulting from poor financial services,
  and inappropriate or limited technology.
• Other factors that affect poor farmers
  livelihoods include fragmented landholding,
  post-harvest losses as high as 40 percent,
  inconsistent product pricing and trade policies,
  and market constraints.

13
Sri Lanka Telecommunication Sector

• Background
• The telecommunications area is the most growing
  and dynamic sector in Sri Lanka.
  
• The telephone system is very insufficient
  domestic services especially in rural area.
  
• One fixed line operator SLT, two wireless local
  loop operators and four mobile operators.
  
• Telephony-density rate is low as 16.6 phone
  lines per 100. Fixed line density is low as 5.1,
  mobile line density is 11.5.
  
• Mobile line density is misleading because many
  people are carrying more than one cell phone.
  
• The real telephony-density is still very low.
• The hope for improvement is related to the
  privatization of the national telephone company
  and private investments.
  
• Telecommunication Infra structure
• Fixed line 1,094,809, Mobile line7.2 million.
• The domestic telephone system is consists of
  digital microwave radio relay, fiber-optic links
  is in use in Colombo area and two fixed wireless
  local loops have been installed.
• The competition in mobile system is the strongest
  among other systems.
  
• Internationally telephone system is consists of
  submarine cables to Indonesia and Djibouti, and
  satellite earth station 2 Intelsat (Indian
  Ocean).

14
Sri Lanka Telecommunication Sector Continued

• Internet Services
• ADSL was introduced into Sri Lanka by SLT in
  2003.
  
• There are now 10 different internet service
  providers (ISPs).
  
• The standard speed is 512/128 Kbps costing Rs.
  2500 (25) plus VAT (Taxes) per month for an
  unmetered flat rate.
  
• Faster connections are available up to 2Mbps for
  Rs. 6500 per month.
  
• These services are available within Greater
  Colombo area, Kandy, and Galle.
  
• In peak hours there are complain from users about
  the speeds they get.
  
• 1 GB of transfer per month using 512/128 Kbps for
  Rs. 1000 about 10. Each additional 250 MB is
  billed at Rs. 250 about 2.5.
  
• Radio and Television Broadcasting
• there are 15 AM, 50 FM, and 5 shortwave radio
  station.
  
• 12 million Radio sets.
• there are 21 Television broadcast stations
• 5 million Television sets.

15
Sri Lanka Telecommunication Sector Continued

• Problems Facing Communication Sector
• Communication sector in Sri Lanka is facing many
  problems and its infrastructure need a lot of
  developments.
  
• One of the problems was due the government
  control over the communications sector.
  
• STL continues to own most of the national
  infrastructure and the main international
  switches, and continues to dominate this sector
  affecting the competitiveness of other operators
  (private investments).
• In 2003, the government work on popularization
  the international telecommunications and
  announced 29 (non-facilities based) gateway
  licenses, ending by that SLT monopoly over
  international telephony.
• In result, international calls rates decreased
  rapidly. In other hand, operators are forced to
  use the international switches of SLT which
  restrict the access to cheaper bandwidth.
• A major problem in the telecommunication sector
  in Sri Lanka which forms an obstacle in
  development process is the restricted
  interconnection.
• The regulatory authority has failed to enforce
  regulations provide an efficient interconnection
  regime.
  
• SLT and the two wireless operators have created
  an economic monopoly to control local gateways
  and restrict interconnection to other operators.
  
• This unofficial step affected the other operators
  , internet operators and the new international
  gateway licenses.
  

16
Connecting Rural Areas

• Community Radio Broadcasting
• One of the important aspects is to provide the
  rural area with local radio broadcasting.
  
• People who live in rural area usually dont have
  access to TV or Internet but have an access to
  radio.
  
• The importance of local radio station is
  providing the local community with local news and
  issues that matter them.
  
• Radio stations are increasingly using the
  internet to broadcast their programs.
  
• The Kothmale Internet community radio is an
  example project of the community radio station.
  
  
• It is located in the central hill region of Sri
  Lanka and serves a population of 200,000 people.
  
  
• Sixty villages and three rural towns are located
  with the radio stations target area. The station
  serves an area of 20Km radius.
  
• The project uses community radio as an interface
  between the Internet and rural communities.
  
• The UNESCO provided computer equipment and
  training while the government provided the
  Internet connectivity to the community radio
  through a dedicated 64KB line.
• The station use 8 permanent employees 4 of them
  from the villages as well as 15 volunteer from
  the local community.
  
• This project provides many services as
• Radio program to Radio Browse the Internet
  (information interpreted in local language).
  
• Community radio function as a mini Internet
  Service Provider to the community with free
  Internet access.
  
• Community database development.
• The cost of establishing a low cost radio station
  with internet access is about 40,000. This
  project can easily establish and could have
  retains from providing computer lessons and
  advertisements.

17
Connecting Rural Areas Continued

• E-Village
• A student in the rural areas of Sri Lanka has to
  pay about Rs. 150 for 30 minutes to use the
  internet.
  
• In addition to that he should pay for the
  transportations each time he wants to have an
  internet connection.
  
• In 2005, Horizon Lanka foundation incorporate
  with Information and Technology Agency and
  Enterprise Technology supported by the Pan Asia
  ICT start developing a low-cost wireless
  broadband architecture to provide high speed
  internet to the rural areas in Sri Lanka.
• In 2006, Mahavilachchiya a village far about 40km
  from the nearest town and surrounded from 3 sides
  by jungles with no terrestrial or mobile phone
  network, became the first village in Sri Lanka
  with 24 hour internet connectivity.
• Internet access is currently provided by 120 foot
  radio transmission tower supplying a connection
  of 64 kbps.
  
• This tower is connected to hub which provides
  internet connection for 7 computers at a time.
  
• A sophisticated Multimedia lap and 50 PCs mostly
  allocated at students houses connected using Mesh
  Wireless Technology providing direct Internet and
  email facilities.
• This service is providing education, e-learning,
  and e-commerce to more than 200 kids in the
  village and their families.
  

18
THE ENDThank you for listening