On January 16, 2008 a bus bomb went off killing 25 and injuring more than 60, in a remote area of Moneragala, arguably the least connected district in the island. Within less than two hours, the international news channels were up with clips. Nuwan Sameera (inset) FTPed them from his Nenasala telecenter in Bibile town – about one hour journey away.



Nuwan operates just within 200 m from a telecom tower (see photo) but bureaucracy is… Continue

Everybody talks about taking ICTs to villages and encouraging telecenter initiatives. Still, the reality can be different as seen from this Sri Lankan example. Surprising how even some easily solvable issues contribute to further widen the digital divide.

Ambuluwawa, about 1,100 m above sea level, is probably the highest point in the vicinity of Gampola in the Central Province, Sri Lanka. Not surprisingly, all telecom operators… Continue

Is broadband quality a subject of interest only to urban top-of-the ladder users?



Not necessarily. With the latest developments in telecom services broadband access is increasingly becoming a reality to rural populations as well, even in developing countries. The penetration levels might not be the same but should that mean quality should be compromised for rural users?



Broadband quality is critical for telecenters where a… Continue

Here are the summarised results from the telecenter operator survey done by LIRNEasia at the weCan workshop in October 2008. Sample was not representative, but large enough to get a general idea about the telecenter operations in Sri Lanka.



Out of a total of 147 operators surveyed, the bulk, 101 were from Nenasalas, the 500 odd telecenter network created under the World Bank funded e-Sri Lanka programme. 10 were from Sarvodaya… Continue

“I came more to learn from you; than to teach” was the message I passed before my two presentations with Sujata. Thanks Fusion/Telecentre.org for the opportunity. The three days spent with 200+ telecenter operators from eight provinces in Sri Lanka was a worthy investment. One does not interact with so many ground level ICT4D practitioners every day. It was a learning experience, for them; and for us.



From what I saw (and heard from… Continue