Page 88 - RUICHSS 2023 Proceeding

University of Ruhuna ISSN: 2706-0063
Matara, Sri Lanka

telecommunication technologies such as telephones and satellite broadcasting

of radio and television, and networking technologies, such as the internet
which has expanded to mobile phone technology and voice over IP (VoIP).

Telephony, satellite communication, and other forms of communication are

the three categories of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)
(Kenkarasseril, 2013) (Kohnert, 2021). The "digital revolution" introduced

novel ways of experiencing and residing in cities, but it also created fault lines
and inequalities between user categories. A new "digital inclusion" strategy

provided communication packages tailored to the perceived opportunities of

socio-economic niche markets, including offers for low-income groups that
corresponded to their unstable incomes and specific needs. These packages

included "friends and family" numbers and "social connection passes," or low-
cost communication packages covering hours of low network use, typically

early in the morning or late at night. These packages provided low-cost access
to digital social networks and messaging via WhatsApp, Skype, etc., enabling

the poor to afford it (Kohnert, 2021). Digital practices have been utilised in

novel and unanticipated ways, such as mobile banking and the use of the
Internet by the poor. In Sub-Saharan Africa, it has also facilitated the

modernization of urban transportation systems, the reinvention of funerary

social structures, and access to electricity and clean cooking (Kohnert, 2021).

Digitalisation and Sustainable Economic Growth
Sustainable development, as defined by the World Commission on

Environment and Development, is "development that meets the needs of the
present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their
29