Representatives of the Chilean Government and 250 executives from more than 30 Latin-American operator companies, met at the 37th Plenary Meeting organized by GSMA Latin America at Viña del Mar, Chile, where it was highlighted the boost that meant the telecommunication industry to the regional economy through the investment plans that keep making grow the connections and spreading the benefits of the knowledge society around the continent.
The Transport and Telecommunication Minister of Chile, Pedro Pablo Errázuriz, was the person in charge of opening the meeting, announcing the goals of the government for 2014: Increase the internet penetration from 40% to 70% in homes, to have 100% of the schools and companies connected and go from 13% to 33% of mobile internet penetration. “We need a market open to innovation in order to put Chile on top at the region in terms of telecommunication development, to benefit all the Chilean people”.
The Minister Errázuriz described as crucial the 4G Contest that is currently boosted by the government in order to provide more quality in mobile internet services. In that matter, he assured that in order to modernize telecommunications “It is necessary to remove the barriers and obstacles in favor of a free market competition and achieve a better user experience”.
The Chief Regulatory & Government Affairs Officer of GSMA, Tom Phillips, announced the future opening of an office of the association in Brazil that will complement the presence that the association has in Chile and Argentina. “As Latin America becomes more important globally, GSMA continues to expand its arrival with an increase in regional presence and support to our members” confirmed Sebastian Cabello, GSMA LA Director.
At the Plenary also presented the Undersecretary of Telecommunications of Chile, Jorge Atton, who explained the policies carried out by Subtel in order to fully include Chile in the Knowledge society: “The competence and quality of the service has to be deal in depth, through new tenders of spectrum frequencies, and keep increasing the coverage with public-private alliances”. The undersecretary also emphasized that the Chilean Government “strongly believes in attracting private investment and recognized the big investments of the telecommunication sector in Chile reaching more than 2400 million dollars in 2011.”
The Mobile Telephony Association of Chile (ATELMO) was represented at the Plenary by its President, Guillermo Pickering, who revealed that in Chile the mobile data traffic will grow 13 times by 2016 in a scenario where “telecommunications agencies are the key” to keep improving the users experience. “The Mobile industry has always been competitive and strong in terms of investment. We have faced periods of time where the investment went down in numbers in all the industries except in the telecommunications that is why they were a great contribution to the national economy “, stated the President of ATELMO.
During the Plenary Meeting, the GSMA presented its “Connected Living” program which is aimed at forming the ecosystems in the new development areas of Mobile industry: m-automotive, m-Health, Smart Cities y m-Education. The GSMA will be soon carrying out the “Connected Living Latin America Summit” during June 26th and 28th in Brazil.
The regional meeting closed with the presentation of “Start Up Program Chile” where internet ventures from all over the world are being incubated. The executive vice president of the Production Development Corporation (CORFO) Hernán Chevre Valenzuela, talked about the importance of the scope of the program and three projects were presented: Latinda from Argentina, Woapi from Chile and Yupi Studios from Brazil.
About the GSMA LA Plenary Meeting #37
The 37th plenary meeting of GSMA Latin America was conducted between 23 and 25 April in Vina del Mar, Chile. Sponsored by ATELMO (Chilean Association of mobile phones) composed of the local operatos Claro, Entel, Movistar, Nextel and VTR, consisted of 3 days of activities including Mobile Business and Public Policy seminars and the sessions of the four GSMA La Working Groups: Billing and Roaming (BARG), Regulatory (REGF), Technical and Terminals (TECT) and Security and Fraud (SEGF). The event had more than 450 representatives from 40 mobile operators in the region, 37 companies providers of networks and services, and more than 30 representatives of government among those who stood out Subtel and CORFO (Chile), Cofetel (Mexico ), ACMA (Australia) and PTS (Sweden).
Download presentations from the Plenary:
- For Working Groups presentations go to Infocentre
Pictures: Photo gallery from the Plenary Meeting.