Gabriel Jurado, Deputy Minister of Connectivity at the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (MinTic), encouraged ISPs to make the leap from the access business to the content business.
“Perhaps the telco crisis is because they've stuck with access, and that's no longer the important thing. What matters is what happens on the network, the content. We see it on television. The growth of content companies, of OTTs, continues to surprise,” he said at the opening of Andina Link 2025.
Jurado reiterated his message: “The market is changing at a dramatic speed, which is why ISPs have to change. Bringing connectivity to homes is the spearhead and cannot be the end of an ISP. We must innovate, create, and sell comprehensive solutions,” he said.
The official noted that both the Colombian government and operators are focused on closing the digital divide. “That is the first path, but we cannot stop there,” he stated.
Jurado cited as an example the case of the most recently connected segments of the population thanks to development programs aimed at closing the digital divide. This population, in many cases, is dedicated to farming. Hence, he proposed that ISPs add value through solutions that boost agricultural productivity and generate surpluses, thereby improving the quality of life of this sector.
"That farmer will be able to pay for his Internet connection," he emphasized, whereby the ISP itself benefits from the opportunity to sell more value-added services.