More than 70 executives from 12 national mobile operators involved in regulation and public policy participated in the first annual meeting of the GSMA Latin America Regulatory Working Group (REGU). The REGU meeting was held on 20 and 21 April in Santiago de Chile, in partnership with the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), which organised the special seminar “Initiative for the Creation of a Regional Digital Market in Latin America”. The seminar included a discussion panel with representatives from Claro, Telefónica, Entel and CAF (Development Bank of Latin America), moderated by Sebastián Cabello, Head of GSMA Latin America.
One of the central sessions of the seminar focused on exchanging views and knowledge about the best way to modernise regulation to make it future-proof, taking into account the vision of the mobile industry, the academic sector and internet players.
“To harness the benefits of the digital era, we need modern regulations that encourage investments and the development of the entire digital ecosystem,” said Serafino Abate, Director of Competition Economics, GSMA. “This makes REGU an ideal space for the mobile ecosystem to openly discuss present and future regulatory challenges with a collaborative industry vision,” Mr Abate added.
The regulatory event began with the launch of the We Care Chile, campaign, where mobile operators Claro, Entel and Movistar adhered to the GSMA Humanitarian Connectivity Charter, pledging to work together on natural disaster preparedness and response.
The REGU meeting also addressed key topics for the mobile ecosystem in Latin America, such as:
- Electronic payment system and regulatory aspects in Latin America
- Infrastructure deployment for connectivity
- Cyber security
- Regulatory modernisation for communications convergence
- Regulatory challenges of the Internet of Things and opportunities for the mobile industry
- Spectrum present and future
- Industry contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Electronic Waste; and Telecommunications and natural disaster response.
- Internet governance
In addition to key regulatory managers from mobile operators, various specialists from the sector gave talks, including Fernando Edwin Rojas and Jorge Alejandro Patiño, from ECLAC’s Production, Productivity and Management Division; Guillermo Pickering, Director of ATELMO Chile; Facundo Fernández Begni, Government & Industry Relations Director, Ericsson; Margarita Ducci Budge, Executive Director of Global Compact Network Chile (United Nations); Mauricio Agudelo, Telecom Technology and Media Specialist, CAF, Development Bank of Latin America; Carolina Limbatto, Senior Analyst Americas, Cullen International; and Uca Silva, Head of RELAC Platform (Regional Latin American and Caribbean Platform for Electronic Waste).
Resources
- Image gallery
- Más sobre la campaña “We Care“