Continuing its support towards accelerating the digital transformation and technology diffusion in the country, SLT-MOBITEL, the National ICT Solutions Provider has joined hands with the Computer Society of Sri Lanka (CSSL) as the Platinum Sponsor of the 39^th National Information Technology Conference (NITC) 2021. NITC is one of the most respected and anticipated ICT events in Sri Lanka and in the region. Due to the prevailing Covid-19 situation, this year’s conference will be held as a virtual conference on 12^th and 13^th October 2021.

Minister of Youth, Sports & Development Co-ordination and Monitoring, State Minister of Digital Technology & Enterprise Development Mr. Namal Rajapaksa will grace the conference inauguration and CSSL National ICT Awards on 12^th October 2021 9.00AM as the Chief Guest. Secretary to the Ministry of Technology, Jayantha De Silva will be the Guest of Honor and the inauguration Keynote Speaker.

Damith Hettihewa, President of CSSL welcomed the SLT-MOBITEL platinum partnership as a great contribution towards supporting the efforts of CSSL which is advocating acceleration of digital transformation of the country to leverage Industry 4.0 opportunities for Sri Lanka to become a wealthy nation.  “Our country needs to accelerate policy formation, legal enactments and research & design to adopt cutting edge technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, Augmented Reality, Internet of Things (IOT), Robotic Process Automation and Integration, Big Data and real time analytics, Cloud Computing, and Blockchain in the vital sectors of the economy. At this year’s conference, the Sri Lankan ICT fraternity will deliberate these aspects along with several global experts on these topics over a period of two days.” He said.

Speaking about the Platinum Partnership, SLT Group CEO Lalith Seneviratne said “SLT-MOBITEL provides a range of ICT facilities including voice, data, broadband, wholesale, enterprise, cloud, international, and IPTV. Further, SLT-MOBITEL has laid the largest fibre optic-based nation-wide telecommunication backbone network which is a veritable asset in propelling the country’s development to the next level. The group’s efforts to expand the broadband footprint are supplemented by an array of technologies including carrier-grade Wi-Fi, and both fixed and mobile 4G LTE technologies. Preparing Sri Lanka to embrace the latest technology, SLT-MOBITEL successfully showcased the deployment of 5G over a Mobile Network achieving record speeds. As the national ICT solutions provider, SLT-MOBITEL strives to further expand its influence in NB-IoT, Automation, Artificial Intelligence and Critical Communication technologies and solutions, thereby leading Sri Lanka towards the next phase of the digital revolution.”

This year’s National Information Technology Conference is organized under the leadership of Damith Hettihewa, President of CSSL. The Conference Chair is Rasantha Hettithathirige while Dr. Ajantha Atukorale and Dr. Adheesha Wijayasiri are spearheading the academic track and colloquium of the conference.

NITC 2021 will also be supported by Ministry of Technology, Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) of Sri Lanka as the National Partner. Huawei has partnered with NITC 2021 as the Gold Sponsor for the second time around. Facebook has partnered with CSSL for the 2^nd CSSL Colloquium at NITC 2021. Axiata Digital Labs has joined NITC 2021 as Silver Sponsor for the 2^nd time as well. FineTech is the virtual platform provider. Wijeya Newspapers Ltd’s Daily FT is the print media partner of NITC 2021. Independent Television Network is the Electronics Media Partner of the flagship IT conference of the country.

Mr. Prabath Wickramaratne Past President of CSSL, Mr. Damith Hettihewa, President of CSSL, Mr. Indika Amarasuriya, Head of Brand Marketing at Mobitel (Pvt) Ltd.