President Iván Duque announced on April 30 the surprising resignation of the ICT minister, Sylvia Constaín, after 18 months as head of the ministry. Although her resignation did not sound among the next changes, the controversy over Partners after the resignation of a block in the 2,500 MHz band and the problems with the tender for the .CO domain generated mistrust in the companies in the sector. Her successor, Karen Abudinen, who was serving as High Presidential Adviser, spoke to Convergencialatina about the new pending issues of the Ministry.

The recent minister referred to the future of the 2020-22 agenda and the plan to bring the Internet to rural communities in the midst of the current situation caused by Covid-19.

Convergencialatina: What are the main emergencies of the sector in this Pandemic context?

Karen Abudinen (KA):The main urgency has been to maintain and secure communications in the national territory. I firmly believe that connectivity is a dynamiser of opportunities and that is why it is vital to expand it in all corners of the country. For this, we declare telecommunications as an essential public service to guarantee its provision and generate conditions of access to the population that needs it most. We also provide VAT exemption for the next 4 months for prepaid and postpaid mobile plans of up to US $ 18 and we created the free and zero-rated CoronAPP application, which in addition to providing important information and guidance on the virus, will provide 5 million 1 GB recharges and 100 minutes for calls for those who download it.

We are in a process of providing fixed Internet through the Nuevos Hogares Conectados (New Connected Homes) strategy, with monthly rates ranging from US $ 2.27 for stratum 1 and US $ 5 for stratum 2 to the first 267,000 homes in 163 municipalities and 24 departments . Likewise, we provided free access to 20 websites that offer vital services or information for Colombians at the juncture, and in a joint work with the Ministry of Education, we established the free navigation portal ´Colombia Aprende´ to facilitate the continuity of the education to vulnerable population.

Convergencialatina: Is this crisis upsetting the government's 2020-22 Agenda?

KA: As President Iván Duque pointed out during the event in which I positioned myself as minister, this emergency requires our sector to react quickly to the needs of the population. So we made the decision to speed up the development of some vitally important projects, such as the spectrum auction (held in December 2020): we delivered all the use permits in the 2,500 MHz band to all operators who were awardees in that process.

Likewise, the installation of Urban Digital Zones was commissioned in the 13 departments of the country, so that citizens can access the wireless Internet from their cell phones, tablets or laptops, for one free hour a day and seven days a week. In this project we have been progressing positively and we already have 148 Zones deployed, which offer a 30 Mbps upload and download speed capacity.

Less than a month ago we announced the viabilities for 188 organized communities that could obtain the license to operate new community radio stations. Likewise, we made an alliance with the 625 community radio stations currently operating in the country for their strengthening in technical and functional aspects.

The ‘Plan Ejecutando y Conectado’ (Executing and Connected Plan) also stands out, with which we seek to bring free Internet to rural communities in 99 municipalities and 19 departments of the country. This will be done with the installation of 300 new Digital Zones, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and they will be an alternative for communities to communicate with the health emergency. This project had an investment of more than US$2 million and its installation will last until mid-August 2020.

Convergencialatina: What is expected with Partners? When will it start operating in the country?

KA: On February 20 of this year we issued the administrative acts for this company to use the spectrum in the 700 MHz band that it obtained through the auction held in December 2019. This is the starting point for the company to go through the legalization process and start the infrastructure deployment. The latter will allow it to benefit 674 of the 3,658 rural towns that in less than 5 years will benefit from 4G services.