What did it achieve in its originally allotted five years? It would be useful to identify criteria that may be used by the citizens of Sri Lanka to assess success and hold it accountable for the next five years.

Success criteria must be related to outputs, not inputs. Not money spent but results achieved in forms that citizens and stakeholders can perceive. The measures would, ideally, be comparative (also applied to other countries). Sri Lanka must have improved its standing relative to our peers. Equipped as it was with a large World Bank credit and empowered as part of the President’s Office, ICTA has no excuses if success has not been achieved.

How it applies to Internet and broadband is what Rohan Samarajiva, Chair and CEO, LIRNEasia explained in his keynote speech at the workshop ‘Expanding access to the Internet and broadband for development’ on November 16, 2009, at the Internet Governance forum 2009.  His presentation entitled, ‘How the developing world may participate in the global Internet Economy:  Innovation driven by competition’, can be downloaded here.

The session was chaired by Dimitri Ypsilanti, Head of Information, Communication and Consumer Policy Division, OECD. The discussants were Tim Kelly, Lead ICT Policy Specialist, infoDev – World Bank, Olfat A. Monsef, Vice President of National Telecommunication Regulator, Telecom Services, Egypt, Anriette Esterhuysen, Executive Director, Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and Virat Bhatia, President – External Affairs, AT&T, South Asia will be the discussants.

The workshop is jointly organized by OECD and infoDev.

World Bank, as administrator for Global Partnership on Output-Based Aid (GPOBA) , in April 2009 has signed a grant agreement for US$1.9 million with the Republic of Indonesia to facilitate access to Internet and associated telecommunication services for people living in remote areas in Java dan Sumatra. Access development and provision are fully financed by GPOBA and supervised by Ministry of Communications and Information’s Directorate General of Applied Telematics (Ditjen Aptel). Minister of Communications and Information, Mohammad Nuh, said that witnessing Indonesia’s development and progress in becoming a knowledge-based society driven by existence and free flow of information is mutually beneficial. Furthermore, targets to be reached with this grant is in line with government efforts in making information more accessible to communities in remote areas. With access to information, economic activities in remote areas will have equal opportunities in developing business potential and access.

This is described as a pilot project so I guess everyone is looking for lessons. We will follow this with interest.

We are ratcheting up our emphasis on evaluation now that we have a substantial body of work to talk about. A key element in this will be Chanuka Wattegama’s participation in the most important evaluation training program currently being offered, the International Program for Development Evaluation Training offered every Summer at Carleton University in Ottawa, with the cooperation of the World Bank and IDRC. Chanuka has been selected for a scholarship through a competitive process. Our congratulations to him.

But it still makes us wonder why the World Bank is funding rural payphones, when the evidence is abundant that cheap mobiles are what will connect poor people, not payphones?

Poor families in four of the poorer provinces of northern and northwestern Cambodia – Banteay Meanchey, Otdar Meanchey, Preah Vihear, and Pursat – will benefit from a US$2.6 million grant to increase access to telecommunications services signed by the World Bank, acting as administrator for the Global Partnership on Output-Based Aid (GPOBA), and the Royal Government of Cambodia.
Up to 52,000 poor households or 260,000 Cambodians are expected to benefit from the scheme, through improved telecommunications network coverage and the installation of public access points where people will be able to make and receive telephone calls on a regular and reliable basis.

Full news release.

Multiple dishes is a common sight at many Nenasalas – the ‘telecentres’ set up under the e-Sri Lanka program, funded by the World Bank. Some of them are huge – with diameters little less than 2m. Having not done a design recently, I cannot tell the prices offhand, but I do know they are expensive – one such dish (with equipment) costs few times more than the aggregate cost of the PCs and peripherals in the centre.

Why a telecenter is equipped with multiple dishes?

The reason is, sadly, poor planning. ICTA, the implementation agency changes the communication services provider frequently. Few years have elapsed since the services from the initial provider have been discontinued, but he has never bothered to remove the dishes. Why? Your guess is as good as mine. The capital expenditure has been fully included within the Rs. 90 million (US$ 900,000) amount charged to provide VSAT services to then 200 odd Nenasalas for a period of one year.

The sadder part is even with such a substantial expense these centres are not provided broadband. What they receive is 128 kbps – something not too different from dial-up.

That is when some of these centers are already within the 3G coverage areas. Out of the three above two centers receive 3G signals. Not too great, but adequate for a telecenter and certainly better than a 128 kbps link.

We will be glad to learn what Udaya Gammanpila, ex-Chairman Central Environmental Authority, (who was once worried about used mobile phones creating an e-waste issue) thinks about the environmental damage created by these non-functional dishes, even if we ignore the huge sunk cost.

His latest holler, as reported by ‘The Catalyst’ – the newsletter of the Information and Communication Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA), the apex body of ICTs that spearhead the e-Sri Lanka program, funded by the World Bank, goes as follows:

“At a time when the ‘world funding bodies’ proposed the setting of Internet cafes in cities of Sri Lanka in a manner that would only cater only to the rich elite, President Mahinda Rajapaksa decided that Nenasalas or wisdom outlets should be setup instead island-wide to cater to the poor rural folk.”

We are certain the World Bank’s ability to speak for itself, but feel the need to set the record straight especially for the benefit of those who are unaware of the history of e-Sri Lanka program.

Firstly, Mr. Minister, Cyber cafes are not for rich elite, who now have their own laptops with HSPA connections. Cyber cafes are for the poor, who cannot afford their own PCs, and right now serve millions in countries like Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand. In most of the Asian societies cyber cafes – surely not the donor supported telecenters – are the key means of Internet access by the poor.

Secondly Mr. Minister, World Bank or any other Development Agency for that matter, has never promoted the idea of net access for the rich. No matter what the flaws in the approach, their priority has always been rural areas typically not served by the market. If you care to check the original e-Sri Lanka document, you will find there have never been any suggestions to setup telecenters for rich Colombo elite. On the contrary, the Nenasalas within center Colombo, was introduced only after 2004.

Thirdly, Mr. Minister, the idea of having Vishva Gnana Kendras (VGKs) – as the forerunner was known – was to have more financially viable tele-centers, which could stand on their own feet, instead creating a donor funded unsustainable model. The fallacy of Nenasala model is yet to be discovered at the point of the end of donor funding. For example, according to Niranjan Meegammana, a consultant to ICTA, sixteen Nenasalas in Uva province (Girandurukotte, Balagolla, Talakumbura, Kabillegama, Parahettiya, Hali Ela, Maspanna, Divurumpola, Wekumbura, Badalkumbura, Therulla, Siyambalanduwa, Ethimale, Suriya-ara and Kiri Vehera) earns less than USD 50 per month – too little to cover even their operating costs. How these Nenasalas will continue without donor funding is a question awaiting an answer.

Fourthly, Mr. Minister, not all Nenasalas cater to the poor. Having visited them personally we can name few Nenasala’s which never opens their door to the poor but used only by the rich incumbent priests of the temples – against the wishes of the donors.

The truth can be very different from what the voters wants to hear.

How far onshore rural BPOs cater to the needs of their clients? It might not exactly be toy manufacturing outsourced to rural China, but close. The connectivity issues still exist, and capacity building too remains a challenge. The good news is in spite of all that things do happen.

Isura Seneviratne, 22, runs OnTime Technologies at Mahavilachchiya – the first rural BPO in Sri Lanka, born as a joint effort of Horizon Lanka Academy and FARO (Foundation for Advancing Rural Opportunities). Isuru and its first manager Nirosh did the business plan. Trained in Laos and India for BPO work, Isuru knows the nuts and bolts of the game. The operation is still lean, only 8 seats against 25 – the expect target within the first year of operation. Cannot blame because the business had to face the hard challenge of not only building capacity but also pulling legs by different parties. Fortunately the internal politics is now over with the bold step by Lovina Charles, a key donor of the Horizon project at Mahavilachchiya expressing her full backing for the BPO.

At OnTime technologies an operator earns Rs. 8,000 (USD 72) minimum per month, while the highflyers take something like Rs. 13,000 (USD 120) home. Assuming a reasonable PPP ratio this is equivalent to earning USD 240 – 300 in Colombo.

OnTime Technologies offer data entry, data verification, data Indexing, scanning, web designing and graphic designing services. Isuru is proud to mention his clients, John Keells Holdings and Dialog Telekom, two conglomerates. His next goal is a project too ambitious. From Mahavilachchiya Isuru and his team is going to handle the daily issues for a hotel network.

Isuru is not alone in the game.

Jayantha Wickramaratne of Panamura Nenasala, Embilipitita (a telecenter setup under the World Bank funded e-Sri Lanka program) provides e-commerce services using the e-Bay model through the site http://www.ecseva.lk. Advertisements placed by service providers are made available to the large base of site’s users. Anyone who has a job too can place an advertisement which will be then offered to a bidder through a competitive bidding process.

Selvaratnam Sri Kanthan of Koslanda Nenasala too runs a rural BPO service for local and international clients. Partnered with NLingua Services of New Delhi, a voice transcription and translation service, his Nanasala employs Koslanda residents to translate and transcribe audio files from Tamil or Sinhala into English, or vice versa. Web Design is another service he offers.

This does not mean everything runs perfectly. There are so many issues to be addressed. (For example Isuru can do a better job with a link of higher capacity than his present 256 kbps one) Still these courageous and innovative young men and women bring us hope – in difficult times.

Four years to history, ‘Your tears are mine’ (see below) was my reaction to Asian tsunami. Reproduced in multiple sites, it was recited once in a remembrance event. Though written more in a Sri Lankan context, let me pick it again today, to remember all 225,000 lives lost, in the worst tsunami in recent history – that caused vast damage to four countries LIRNEasia closely works in, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and India.

Not my every wish was granted. The aftermath of tsunami, instead of creating a division-free society demonstrated how pathetically the disparities were amplified. Still the humanity did not collapse on December 2004. We did not let tsunami block our way.

Four years later, having completed the recovery process, most tsunami victimized societies stand on their own feet with smiles. Add to is the good news of new found disaster readiness. Not without issues (We have seen enough weaknesses during cyclone Nargis), but certainly better than what was four years ago. At least we receive false alarms. One may say, malfunctioning traffic lights are worse than not having them, but let us be positive. Now we have the technology in place in most of the cases, the question is only fine-tuning.

LIRNEasia, is glad to play its role. Disaster readiness has been one of key focus areas in our research. Our HazInfo project evaluated the suitability of five ICTs deployed in varied conditions in the last mile of a national disaster warning system for Sri Lanka and possibly by extension to other developing countries. In the current research cycle, one Mobile 2.0 @ BOP competent, looks at how Cell Broadcasting can be used in early warning. We have also joined hands with others varying from World Bank to Lanka Software Foundation (LIRNEasia assisted developing one module of Sahana – the much talked FOSS based Disaster Management system) and Telecom Authority of the Maldives to Sarvodaya, in numerous activities to make Asian societies more disaster resilient.

This explains the title. Your smiles are ours.

Your tears are mine; so are your dreams

Mothers, fathers, sisters,
brothers, sons and daughters,
Forgive us,
for burying you, unidentified,
in this unmarked grave
It’s a funeral without rites,
alas, we do not have any priests
Sans pānsukula too,
not even a piece of white cloth is left;
The sea enraged,
had swallowed all we had,
except our humanity and courage
So let us leave you here,
in the middle of this barren land,
that bears no fruits

Dear mothers and fathers,
We never asked,
whether you were Sinhalese, Tamils or Muslims
Did it bother us,
whether you were Buddhists, Christians or Hindus?
For we know,
that matters no more
Did the tsunamis care?
so why should we do?
We all know once you were humans,
as much as we all are
We also know,
once you had pleasant and ambitious dreams,
concealed in the deepest corners of your hearts,
like we all have
Don’t we know,
that you loved to be loved and to enjoy life?
Don’t we all?

Dear brothers and sisters,
Forgive us,
for these humble rites,
because that’s what we can afford right now

Dear sons and daughters,
Forgive us,
for leaving you here alone and cold,
in this unmarked grave
For we have more important tasks to do,
for you all
Can we let all of you die in vain?
Don’t we have to prove,
that you scarified your lives for a united land,
that does not differentiate humans,
by their race, creed, class or caste?
Don’t we have to prove one day that we can – and will,
fulfill your own dreams,
for a land of eternal peace,
that no tsunami can ever reduce to rubble?
Rest in peace sweet princes and princesses,
We are not going to give up that dream

Your dreams are now ours,
and the day we achieve them,
is now closer than you ever thought

Chanuka Wattegama
December 31, 2004

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 bureaucracy. Spending World Bank money generously, ICTA, the implementation agency of Nenasala telecenter network under the e-Sri Lanka program, first provided a VSAT link from a different operator. (Perhaps the tower came later and fortunately, and Nuwan does not have to foot the bill, about US$ 750 per month, in the first year) Then came the 128 kbps link that every centre gets. It costs about USD 100 per month.

FTPing is one of Nuwan’s main business lines. Narrowband 128 kbps would not have FTPed the video clips of the bus bomb so fast. Nuwan was lucky to have a telecom tower in his vicinity. Now another 1 Mbps links him to the world. That is the best he can wish for. With excellent Line of Sight (see photo) his quality of service issues are addressed. When tested he got 75%. (Not by LIRNEasia’s AT-Tester, which he is keen to use; please wait for the test results soon)

The glitch: In Bibile, 128 kbps costs TWICE MORE than 1 Mbps. You guessed it! From the same operator! 1 Mpbs is from open market. 128 kbps is ‘resold’ thru ICTA that buys in bulk.

Should we be surprised in a country where government sells Petrol at Rs. 22 more than the private sector?

Ambuluwawa, about 1,100 m above sea level, is probably the highest point in the vicinity of Gampola. Not surprisingly, all telecom operators exploit the geography. Transmission stations/towers encircle the summit. (See above) That is what one calls infrastructure.

Just 10 km away, Sirimalwatte Ananda thero, a young and energetic Buddhist monk, runs a Nenasala, a telecenter established under the World Bank funded e-Sri Lanka program. He is not content with the Internet facilities. He pays Rs. 11,250 (about USD 100) per month for a 128 kbps link of inconsistent speed. This is twice more what a user in Colombo pay for her, not 128 k but 2 Mbps link – from the same operator.

Use simple maths. Ananda thero pays THIRTY TWO (32) times more per kbps than a user in Colombo. Why such a large gap? Don’t tell me lack of infrastructure is the culprit.

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 multi-purpose telecenters and 6 from others (eg. public libraries) 30 have not specified the type of the telecenter.

Do telecenters in Sri Lanka make money? Yes. They report an average monthly income of Rs. 22,119. (=USD 201) This is associated with a relatively large standard deviation of Rs. 21,714 (= USD 197) indicating a variation within a wide range. Not a surprise since some telecenters are running at a loss (presumably temporarily) and few reporting a monthly income of over Rs. 100,000 (= USD 900).

However, providing Internet services ranked only third among telecenter income components (16%). The key sources of income are education and training (43%) and providing fax, photocopy and printing series (21%). They also make money from VoIP (4.5%), bill payments (2.5%) telephone calls (2.5%) selling other goods (2%) and VCD/DVD rentals (1%).

Asked for the preferred income profile, the results were not too different. They still want 33% income from training, 21% from fax photocopy and print services and 17% from Internet services. Is this an indication of being more realistic or less ambitious? You decide.

Average monthly expenditure of a telecenter is Rs. 15,837. (USD 144) This may not reflect the real costs as the Internet charges for Nenasalas are borne by ICT Agency from the money comes from e-Sri Lanka programme. Salaries is the highest cost component (39%). Then comes electricity (25%). About 10% each for telephone and rent.

On average basis a telecenter has 5 PCs and employs four staff members – two permanent, two temporary. Correlation between the income and the permanent staff strength was 0.56; the income and the number of PCs, 0.62.

Do telecenters make a profit? Yes, but perhaps may not in real terms. They record a monthly average profit of Rs. 6,735 (=USD 61) with a large standard deviation of Rs. 9,504 (=USD 86). This indicates the loss incurred by some of them. This is again without considering the cost of the communication link. (The monthly average cost of a 2 Mbps business broadband connection is USD 46 in Colombo. This might be slightly high in rural areas.)

Telecenters operators are rewarded in different ways. Only 33% are salaried. 22% receive a share of profits. 13% receive an allowanced based on performance. 32% receive no personal income. How they prefer to be rewarded? 51% wants a monthly salary; 26% a share of profits and 18% a performance based allowance. Doesn’t sound too entrepreneurial but in Sri Lanka culture job security plays an important role.

With hard times at our doorsteps, all we can say is a remittance mechanism that employs mobile communications would be an excellent idea. By the way, that is one area our research on Mobile2.0@BoP will focus.

BTW, for those who wonder why we keep saying that South Asia is the home to the world’s largest concentration of poor people, the answer is that the World Bank states that 595.5 million people live on below USD 1.25 (purchasing parity) in South Asia.  Sub-Saharan Africa only has 384.2 million.