Sri Lanka ships 56, 806 PCs in Q3

NEW DELHI: Driven by demand from the home and government segments, the PC/server market in Sri Lanka shipped 56,806 units in Q3 (July-September) 2007, a Year-on-Year growth of 13.5 per cent, according to Springboard Research.

The home segment generated 23.2 per cent share, followed by the large enterprise and government segments. Government and SME segments grew at a slower pace compared to large enterprises. Large enterprise procurement -- especially from the telecom, banking, and healthcare industries -- also contributed to the growth. Increase in defense spending along with rising inflation and interest rates, however contained the IT demand.

The island nation had shipped 50,035 units in Q3 2006.

HP led the market with a 17.7 per cent share with Dell and Lenovo occupying the second and third spots respectively. Local players, Maya and Panora, witnessed remarkable growth during the quarter.

The Sri Lankan government recently partnered with its Indian counterpart to set up IT parks in the country. The country’s e-Sri Lanka initiative also uses ICT for economic development, poverty reduction and improving the quality of living in the country.

The government is also working to develop the country's vast untapped human resources for various R&D projects through the infusion of $5.2 million under the ICT Capacity Building Program (ICBP) targeted at SMEs and local software developers.

Considering that the country’s economic expansion is limited only to urban areas and the prevalent political uncertainty, Springboard forecasts that Sri Lanka's PC/Server market will have sustained growth pressure throughout 2008.

"Many organizations in the SME segment have put their current IT spending on hold and are waiting for the country's overall security and economic situation to stabilize. Even the education sector is continuing to witness a decline in its overall ICT spending. However, in the coming years, we can expect the sector to see increased procurement as the government has some plans to enhance the country's overall ICT development and literacy," said Shipra Sanganeria, analyst, Springboard Research.

© CyberMedia News