- The Latin American Telecommunications Congress will bring together more than 60 leaders, including ICT Ministers, regulators, executives, academics and heads of international organisations. FCC Chair Ajit Pai and his team will outline the progress in digitalisation and 5G deployment.
- Participation has been confirmed from government representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Paraguay, Spain and the United States.
Buenos Aires, 19 June 2019. Two weeks ahead of its Argentina debut, the 7th Latin American Telecommunications Congress has over 60 speakers confirmed for more than 20 activities on strategic topics covering infrastructure deployment, innovation, regulation, competition, transparency, coverage, universal service funds, digitalisation, industry 4.0 and security. The forum will provide an opportunity to share experiences and encourage discussion among public and private sector leaders to drive the policies that will accelerate the closure of the digital divide and enable the digital transformation of Latin America.
In recent years, considerable progress has been made in coverage and internet access in Latin America and the Caribbean. However, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), 279 million people still do not use this service. A rethink of key variables is needed: management and release of vital resources, such as spectrum; design and use universal funds; and creation of new mechanisms to leverage investment in remote areas where the cost of deployment and access make connecting low income homes unfeasible. These topics will drive discussion aimed at building a roadmap for the digitalisation of Latin America.
To address these important issues, government participation has been confirmed from Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Cuba and Paraguay. Leaders of regulatory bodies from eight countries will also be attending, alongside executives from leading companies in the sector. In a key year for the future of 5G, with the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-19) fast approaching, international guests at CLT19 will include Ajit Pai, Chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), United States, and Grace Koh, US Head of Delegation to WRC-19, as well as Chaesub Lee, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau, and Roberto Sánchez, Director General of Telecommunications and Information Technologies, Ministry of Economy and Business, Spain. These guests will join a significant lineup of regional leaders, including:
- Andrés Ibarra, Government Secretary of Modernisation and Deputy Chief of Cabinet, Argentina
- Héctor Huici, Secretary of Information and Communications Technology, Argentina
- Silvana Giudici, President, National Communications Agency (ENACOM), Argentina
- Vitor Menezes, Secretary of Telecommunications, Brazil
- Luciano de Freitas, Regulatory Specialist, National Telecommunications Agency (ANATEL), Brazil
- Pamela Gidi, Undersecretary of Telecommunications, Chile
- Iván Mantilla, Vice Minister of Connectivity and Digitalisation, ICT Ministry, Colombia
- Carlos Lugo Silva, Executive Director, Communications Regulation Commission (CRC), Colombia
- Gilbert Camacho, Member of the Board, Superintendence of Telecommunications (SUTEL), Costa Rica
- Ana Julia Marie López, Deputy Minister of Communications, Cuba
- Ramiro Camacho and Mario Fromow, Commissioners, Federal Telecommunications Institute (FTI), Mexico
- Alejandro Peralta, Minister of Information and Communications Technology, Paraguay
- Nelson Guillén, President, Dominican Telecommunications Institute (INDOTEL), Dominican Republic
They will be joined by:
- Daniel Bernal, Adjunct Director, Regulatory Affairs, América Móvil
- Manuel Abelleyra, President, DirecTV Latin America
- Rachel Samrén, EVP – Chief External Affairs Officer, Millicom
- Robert Pepper, Head, Global Connectivity and Technology Policy, Facebook
- María Cristina García de Miguel, Head of orbit/spectrum resources and regulation, Hispasat
- Carlos Moltini, CEO, Telecom Argentina
- Federico Rava, President, Telefónica Argentina
- Sebastian Nieto Parra, Head of Unit, Latin America and Caribbean Desk, OECD
- Farah Diva Urrutia, Secretary for Multidimensional Security, OAS
- María Elena Estavillo, former commissioner, Federal Telecommunications Institute, Mexico
See full list of confirmed speakers here
The event is on from 1 to 5 July at Centro de Convenciones Brigadier General Juan Bautista Bustos, and more than 400 participants are expected. Discussion will take place in a range of formats: a plenary session, comprising panels, flash sessions, keynotes and fire-side chats; the CPR LATAM academic meeting; the meeting of the Board of the Central America Regional Technical Commission of Telecommunications (COMTELCA); the ITU Forum on spectrum management; and workshops on universal service funds, piracy, IoT and security, internet governance and 5G.
See the updated agenda here and side events here
CLT19 is organised by ITU, CAF – Development Bank of Latin America, Inter-American Association of Telecommunications Companies (ASIET) and the GSMA, with Argentina’s Government Secretariat of Modernisation as host. It has the support of the Provincial Government of Córdoba and organisations including COMTELCA, Regulatel, ECLAC-eLAC, ICANN, Internet Society and LACNIC.
For more information and registration, please visit clt.lat