{"id":13938,"date":"2016-06-24T21:33:18","date_gmt":"2016-06-24T20:33:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/about-us\/regions\/latin-america-and-the-caribbean\/?p=13938"},"modified":"2016-07-13T17:01:01","modified_gmt":"2016-07-13T16:01:01","slug":"clt2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gsma.com\/about-us\/regions\/latin-america-and-the-caribbean\/clt2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Regulatory modernisation necessary to understand Latin American digital ecosystem key topic at CLT 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

The successful fourth Latin American Telecommunications Congress (CLT) 2016, held in Canc\u00fan, brought together senior executives in the Latin American digital ecosystem during four days of activities, as they interacted with key ICT ministers and representatives of telecommunications regulatory bodies from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Panama and Uruguay. More than 450 participants from 31 countries addressed the future regulation of the digital ecosystem as the central topic of the event in Canc\u00fan, at a time when the pace of regulatory changes is not keeping up with the speed of change in the digital world.<\/p>\n

The CLT16 plenary session began on Monday 20 June with a keynote by Serafino Abate,\"CTL16 Director of Competition Economics, GSMA, on the \u201cNew regulatory framework for the digital ecosystem\u201d and its competitive dynamics. According to Abate, \u201cThe future regulatory framework should reduce regulatory asymmetries, promote innovation in the context of dynamic competition and allow the objectives of policy public and governments to be achieved in the most effective way possible for the mobile industry\u201d. View the full presentation here<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The talk by Abate was an introduction for the panel \u201cChallenges for future regulation\u201d, where the participants were Carlos L\u00f3pez Blanco, General Director of Public Affairs and Regulation, Telef\u00f3nica; H\u00e9ctor Huici, Secretary of ICT, Argentina; Daniel Bernal, Director of Regulatory Affairs, Am\u00e9rica M\u00f3vil; Pedro Huichalaf, Undersecretary of Telecommunications, Chile; and Ernesto Nemer \u00c1lvarez, Attorney, Office of the Federal Attorney for Consumer Protection, Mexico. See a summary of the keynote here<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The first day of the CLT16 plenary session also included a keynote by Dr Mohamed \"CTL16Madkour, Global Vice President of wireless network marketing, Huawei, on how to achieve a better connected Latin America, and a discussion panel on the internet in the next five years, with participants Kathy Brown, ISOC; FTI commissioner Mario Fromow; Executive Secretary of CITEL, Oscar Le\u00f3n; and representatives from LACNIC, ICANN, Google and Telef\u00f3nica. See a summary of the first day of CLT here<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Challenges for the digital development of Latin America<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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On the second day of CLT16, public-private debate continued with panels on \u201cInvestments \"CTL16in telecommunications to close the digital divide\u201d, the potential for the development of a single digital market in Latin America, and the impact of WRC15 on mobile services and broadcasting. Mobile industry representatives taking part in the debate included Sebasti\u00e1n Kaplan, Director of Regulatory Affairs for Latin America, Millicom; Alejandro Cant\u00fa, General Counsel, Am\u00e9rica M\u00f3vil; Daniel Rios, Director of Public Policy, AT&T; and Jos\u00e9 Juan Haro, Director of Regulatory Affairs, Telef\u00f3nica.<\/p>\n

The CLT16 plenary session ended with a high level session on the \u201cChallenges for the digital development of Latin America\u201d, moderated by Sebasti\u00e1n Cabello, Head of GSMA Latin America. The participants were M\u00f3nica Aspe, Undersecretary of Communications, Secretariat of Communications and Transport, Mexico; David Luna, ICT Minister, Colombia; Augusto Esp\u00edn, Telecommunications and Information Society Minister, Ecuador; Eduardo Caride, President, Telef\u00f3nica Hispanoam\u00e9rica; Carlos Slim Domit, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Am\u00e9rica M\u00f3vil; Germ\u00e1n Dar\u00edo Arias Pimienta, President of Regulatel and Executive Director of CRC Colombia; Gabriel Contreras, President of FTI; and Mario Cimoli, CEPAL.<\/p>\n

\u201cInvestment in telecommunications is top out of various activities, but it\u2019s the second highest tax generating industry and in some countries smartphones are still considered a luxury item and are subject to special taxes,\u201d said Caride.<\/p>\n

According to Slim Domit, \u201cThe demand for data doubles every year and therefore the industry needs sufficient spectrum, productive investments and flexible regulatory conditions\u201d. See the summary of the second day of CLT here<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

OECD Ministerial Meeting on the Digital Economy<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Held alongside CLT16, the 2016 Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) was attended by the 34 OECD member countries, as well as invited countries, industry stakeholders and international civil organisations. On Tuesday 21, a launch was held for the document \u201cBroadband Policies for Latin America and the Caribbean: A Digital Economy Toolkit<\/a>\u201d, where Sebasti\u00e1n Cabello, Head of GSMA Latin America, was one of the speakers representing the industry.<\/p>\n

Contribution of the mobile ecosystem to Mexico\u2019s economy<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Mexico took centre stage on the third day of CLT16, which included a seminar organised by SCT to evaluate the country\u2019s telecommunications reform. The participants were Gerardo Ruiz Esparza, Secretary of Communications and Transport, Mexico; Houlin Zhao, Secretary General of the ITU; and M\u00f3nica Aspe, Undersecretary of Communications, Secretariat of Communications and Transport, Mexico.<\/p>\n

During the seminar a new report by the GSMA, \u201cCountry Overview Mexico: Mobile driving growth, innovation and opportunity<\/a>\u201d, was launched. The report highlights how Mexico\u2019s mobile market is boosting productivity and economic growth. In 2015, the overall contribution of mobile was more than $40 billion, accounting for almost 3.5 per cent of the country\u2019s total GDP. This percentage includes direct and indirect contributions, as well as productivity and efficiency gains through the use of mobile technology. The mobile ecosystem also created some 335,000 jobs.<\/p>\n

Organisers and regional forums<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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The organisers of CLT16 were the International Telecommunication Union (ITU<\/strong>), the Secretariat of Communications and Transport of Mexico (SCT<\/strong>), CAF<\/strong>-Development Bank of Latin America, the GSMA<\/strong> (the global association of the mobile ecosystem) and the Inter-American Association of Telecommunications Companies (ASIET<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

The regional meeting hosted other activities on Wednesday 22 and Thursday 23 June, such as the workshop on Competition Policy in the Digital Age by the Digital Ecosystem Capacity Building programme<\/a>, the Annual Conference of CPR Latam<\/a> (the cross-disciplinary network of research centres uniting the leading ICT academics in the region) and the Board of the Regional Technical Commission of Telecommunications (Comtelca). The meeting of REGULATEL, the Latin American Forum of Telecommunications Regulators, was also held alongside CLT.<\/p>\n

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Recursos<\/h2>\n