Main challenges to expand connectivity in Latin America

The main challenges faced by digital development in Latin America are to increase connectivity between users, strengthen interconnection between countries, promote public-private dialogue, increase legal trust for the allocation of radio-electric spectrum, as well as increase investments, build infrastructure, and the sustainable development of telecommunications companies. 

These challenges were widely discussed during the second Regional Telecommunications Congress (CRT, for its acronym in Spanish) 2014 which recently took place in Panama, an event organized by the Asociacion Iberoamericana de Centros de Investigacion y Empresas de Telecomunicaciones (AHCIET) (Ibero-American Research Centers and Telecommunications Companies (AHCIET, for its acronym in Spanish), the Asociacion de Operadores Moviles GSMA Latin America (the Association of Mobile Operators GSMA Latin America,  and CAF, Development Bank of Latin America, among other organizations in the area.  

One of the main concerns expressed during the Congress was the slowdown that has affected the industry in the past few years as a result of the politicization of the regulatory processes or the regulatory uncertainty of the radio-electric spectrum. Therefore, an objective to stimulate investments in the region, according to the study presented by AHCIET and Telecommunications Companies, and Convergencia Research, is to strengthen three areas: regulatory and legal certainty, public-private dialogue and collaboration, and a moderate and simplified tax system. 

The Secretary General of AHCIET, Pablo Bello, emphasized another priority challenge for the region: close the digital gap between users. He stated that "two out of three homes are still not connected, and the main challenge in the region is to connect them, a task that must be carried out jointly by governments, regulators, and companies". He stated that to narrow the gap it is necessary to increase investment. "We need USD 400 billion in investment in the next six years to reach the connectivity levels of developed countries", he said.  

Sebastian Cabello, Director of GSMA Latin America, said that in the region, there are more than 696 million mobile connections, and 322 million users. Mobile wide band, with 257 million connections, will be the one to enable connections to Internet to all Latin Americans. "On the side of the operators, the focus is on providing more tools to users and maximizing investments in new networks and services. On the side of the public sector, a regulation is needed that is based on incentives and which understands the future challenges of the sector", explained Cabello. 

Antonio Juan Sosa, Corporate Vice-President of Infrastructure at CAF, highlighted the importance of investing in wide band infrastructure and installing more Internet interconnection points (IXP) to reduce the cost of data trasport. He stated that "it is necessary to work on the expansion of a stronger network that will support the exponential growth of Internet traffic, and which translates into a reduction of costs for final users".  

The participants of the CRT2014 concluded that these challenges lay out an arduous agenda which can only be achieved through joint work. The task is to bring together public and private efforts in all the sectors that are connected with a common goal: expand the digital ecosystem in Latin America.