WELCOME

Dear participants:

It is a pleasure welcoming you as the Minister of Information Technologies and Communications to the 5th Latin American Congress of Teleccommunications to be held in the beautiful city of Cartagena. This is the first time this important event is carried out outside its traditional house in Cancun, Mexico.

This time, we will confirm that the CLT is the most important annual event for the Latin American ITC industry and mobile ecosystem. During the CLT2017, we will have persons in charge of public policies, telecommunications regulators, representatives of the industry and well known academics discussing the public policy responses to the implications of digitalization and the advancement of digital technologies in our countries.

As ITC Ministry of the host country, we will have the opportunity of sharing our visión and strategy for deepening digital economy, the advancements made implementing it and the challenges we will face in the future.

We will be glad receiving you in Cartagena.

Colombia will host the most important debate on telecommunications in Latin America. It is no secret that one cannot speak of economy without speaking of communication and information technologies, especially given their transformational and cross-sectional influence on all productive sectors.

No business is alien to this reality, both in the provision of goods and services. This also applies to the state itself. The digital economy is already here, and it is the responsibility of all, especially of the state, to understand its dynamics and to make the necessary changes in order to take advantage of this new environment.

With participation of the most important players of the sector, the CLT17 will enable us as a region, to define the work agenda to address the challenges of the future in telecommunications and the Digital Economy. Latin America will meet to identify the best practices, to enforce policies and regulations that boost the development of the ICT sector.

At present, all the sectors are facing technology related changes and it is therefore important to understand how the new economy affects productivity, growth, tax collection, generation of policies and of regulations.

The Communications’ Regulatory Commission (CRC) understands this reality and it has therefore undertaken one of its greatest challenges: drawing a roadmap that guides its actions in matters of digital economy for the next 5 years, and this is the opportunity to share our progress and to learn about the work done by the participating countries.

Growing as a region is one of the challenges of the CLT17… we look forward to seeing you in Cartagena de Indias.

In its fifth edition, the Latin American Telecommunications Congress will come to Colombia for the first time to gather in Cartagena the most important executives of the mobile ecosystem, Ministers, telecommunications regulators and the most prominent academics in the region.

Regulatory modernization of the digital ecosystem and the business future of the mobile industry will be some of the primary subjects to be debated among all the actors who will participate at the CLT17, marking the sector’s public policy agenda. Latin America’s mobile operators are also focused on contributing in the best manner to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Therefore, cooperating and building alliances among the mobile industry and governments in the region during CLT17 will be essential.

The Latin American Telecommunications Congress comes to Colombia for the first time, understood to be the most relevant sector gathering in our region. I would like to invite you to be part of this encounter, which is an opportunity to discuss all relevant key industry aspects, both for the present and the future of Latin America.

The development of digital economy and the universalization of Internet access are two essential goals for our region, with the inclusion of all Latin Americans into the Web Connected Society and with their insertion into the fourth industrial revolution. We have had great amounts of progress in the past decades and there are many challenges that we still share, such as the need for modernizing the different regulations within the framework of converging within the current Digital Ecosystem.

Growing together requires having a new look on the Digital Ecosystem where all actors are essential for the development of the rest. Therefore, our organization promotes this venue that gathers the public sector, private companies from the sector and the technical community. We hope to see you soon in Cartagena de Indias

The report about Measuring of the Information Society edited by the ITU at the end of 2016 shows with concrete data and figures the pace at which the ICTs environment is changing. Additionally, it recognizes that the most significant improvements in the use of such technologies is given mainly as a result of the strong growth of the mobile wideband access at the global level.

From the International Telecommunications Union, we are please to invite you to the 5th Latin American Telecommunications Congress with the purpose of enriching the discussions and debates given around the opportunities provided by the ICTs with regards to human, economic and social development. The Congress will provide the appropriate framework for interacting with the main characters of the increasing deployment of networks and services in the region.

From the International Telecommunications Union, we are please to invite you to the 5th Latin American Telecommunications Congress with the purpose of enriching the discussions and debates given around the opportunities provided by the ICTs with regards to human, economic and social development. The Congress will provide the appropriate framework for interacting with the main characters of the increasing deployment of networks and services in the region.

The ITU co-organizes again the CLT to interact with all the stakeholders in the development of the region and to identify opportunities for cooperation to work in conjunction and to make real the commitment of connecting all Latin Americans with each other and with the world. I will see you in Cartagena.

Following a decade of sustained growth, Latin America and the Caribbean are now confronted with a complex economic and social Outlook. In 2017 it is expected that the region will exit the current recession and achieve a modest recovery of economic growth below 2%. Half of Latin America’s population is currently employed in low-productivity informal sectors. As recognized by CAF, the region must overcome the structural issues holding back productivity in order to foster long-term growth. Recent studies show the enormous potential held by the expansion of the digital ecosystem to drive higher growth rates and contribute to the competitiveness of certain sectors of the economy. The CLT, which is celebrating its 5th edition, is once again set to become the most relevant arena to discuss the public policy instruments that will allow the advancement of a real digital transformation in the region. This year, we are leading the discussion on connectivity and the digital economy from the perspective of sub-regional commercial blocks, as well as the key role played by broadband networks and technification of the education sector in promoting a higher quality of education. Welcome!