Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT), the nations only integrated communication services provider, has been chosen as the total telecommunication service provider, as well as the communication infrastructure provider to the Lanka Government Network (LGN).

The Government aims at encouraging public sector employees to be acquainted with Information and Communication Technology (ICT), assuring efficiency and smooth flow of information, as well as improving standards of service in the public sector, to be able to provide efficient citizen services. The LGN project is a strategic project of Re-Engineering Government programmes of Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA), which functions under the Presidential Secretariat.

The IP-VPN (Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network) solution provided by SLT, connects government offices to a unified network, with a host of products such as voice, video, broadband internet, networking and hosting services. Taking government procedures into the realm of modern technology, SLT is responsible to network this mega ICT project titled ‘Lanka Government Network’ (LGN). This project comes under the e-Sri Lanka initiative. A total of 325 government offices in the Western, Central, Southern and Sabaragamuwa provinces via VPN, will be connected under Stage 1 of the project, which includes Ministries, Departments, Districts and Divisional Secretariats.

The solution will allow government offices islandwide, to have on-line access to a centralised IT system at any given time, enabling them to communicate with the Network Operation Centre (NOC) located at the LGN. The planned network can carry Internet Protocol (IP) traffic – voice, video, mission critical and standard class data, facilitating Government offices located islandwide with seamless connectivity.

Speaking on the project, ICTA Director Re-engineering Government Programme Vasantha Deshapriya said: “The LGN concept was initiated to address issues that came out as the result of a research survey carried out in the usage of ICT in the government sector.

It was conducted in 2003, to assess what the situation is in relation to e-government and the roadblocks that we face in implementing it. We decided to have an enabling project, which would build ICT infrastructure in the government.

The scope of the project includes having to address those issues, in terms of providing connectivity to key ministries that provide citizen centric services, that need to be connected for the government to be able to progress towards e-governance. SLT plays an important role in the success of this programme and we are extremely happy with the services that they have provided.

They are a futuristic company that has enabled us to take major steps towards an ICT enabled government.”
The programme allows LGN communities prompt online access to software driven user interfaces and enhance the effectiveness of service delivery in the office environment. Each Government office will be connected to LGN VPN by using different access speeds based on current requirements.

This could be increased to higher data rates on demand. SLT, with its dedicated staff, is offering reliable and maximum service levels required for the project. The latest ICT technology has been selected for the operation of the project, by foreseeing future requirements in the public service sector. The optical fibre link will help to avoid bottlenecks in the bandwidth. The company will also provide state-of-the-art technology, in order to introduce high quality, reliable broadband information artery to the national public service information system, which will provide government offices access to information real time.

“The geographical spread of the network allows it to be flexible and scalable to suit any Ministry’s requirement for future expansion needs, as and when they arise, to connect more government offices to the LGN. This also means that even as the number of government offices increases, the investment required to make the offices in remote areas totally accessible, in terms of communications, remains minimal.

The agreement is also projected to cut down costs of inter branch communication and increase productivity, which results in cost effective real time communication,”

SLT General Manager (Corporate Market Development) Ajith Silva said, while further elaborating that,

“Our partnership with LGN demonstrates SLT’s commitment to collaborate with the Government of Sri Lanka, to take the public service system to greater heights. Since public service is of extreme importance to the country’s development, it will bring the necessary facilities to improve and enhance methods to serve the general public effectively.

The solution we are providing is of minimal cost, making operation of the system smoother and faster, as well as enhancing the capabilities of any Ministry and other offices to serve the public efficiently.

This will also enable government offices to offer more online services to the general public, such as online applications, online submission of forms, e-Pension services, online examination information, Tax information among others.”

“For the LGN project, SLT will act as the telecommunication backbone, providing high speed access to data, video and voice communications in government offices and ministries.

Together with the government, we believe that we can create a stronger resource pool for government offices and the general public across the country. The mega network opens the door for tremendous opportunity for the Company to provide integrated solutions, which are a composite of network, connectivity, hosting applications, security management as well as generating new streams of revenue in the future.

The LGN initiative has the potential and the ingredients to make it a mega technology driven social project, which encompasses pioneering technology as well as the empowering and uplifting society. SLT’s involvement in a project of this magnitude is reflective of its efforts in being a catalyst in helping to build an ICT enabled Sri Lanka.”