SLT to power Lanka Government Network, LGN 2.0

Nov 17, 2016 (LBO) - Sri Lanka Telecom has been chosen as the total communication service provider and communication infrastructure provider to the Lanka Government Network, in a collaborative move by the national government and the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA), a statement said. The LGN is a strategic project produced and designed in order to unify and upgrade government establishments by use of a single network. “The Local Government Network integrates all the government establishments in the country so that they can enjoy effective communications," Dileepa Wijesundera, the GCEO of SLT, said. "I suppose the current network required major upgrade to cater for future initiatives, so the government and the ICTA decided that an upgrade was a real necessity." The ministry and the ICTA have decided to award the project to Sri Lanka Telecom as SLT is the only license holder in the country with the ability to deal with last mile fibre optic solutions as well as the national backbone network, the statement said. “We are extremely pleased to hear this, however we have to work out a working model and the cabinet of ministers have seen fit to grant us permission to collaborate with suitable partners so that the project can be executed effectively." Plans will be rolled out in the coming weeks after discussions held, the statement said. SLT has already set up a LGN fibre optic network covering 315 government establishments and has given the government a commitment to provide a quality product with a speed of up to 100 megabits per second, reliable internet connections, Wi-Fi and more efficiently operating systems, according to Wijesundera. Wijesundera said they were excited to begin work on the LGN 2.0 as the project has been named. “We are ready; we have the materials, we have the expertise, we’ve got the teams ready to go and we believe that the initial work can be completed within a span of three months." "I have appointed two teams; the first will be responsible for planning the implementation of the project and will be led by Mahinda Herath the Group Chief Planning Officer, the second team will be led by the Chief Network Officer, Priyantha Fernandez and the Chief Enterprise & Wholesale Officer, Kiththi Perera will be responsible for the implementation and the delivering of the product” "Following the successful results of the first stage of the LGN project (LGN 1.0), there is no doubt that Sri Lanka Telecom will ensure the success of the LGN 2.0, thus expanding the list of possibilities to increase the efficiency and productivity of government-related procedures and making the lives of the general public that much easier," the statement added.