Mobile World Congress 2016 once again beat all previous records, receiving more than 100,000 visitors from 204 countries, including 55% C-Level representatives and 5,000 CEOs. The Latin Americans played a major role at the 2016 Ministerial Programme, which was attended by 74 delegates from 17 countries of the region, with the Governments of Mexico and Colombia taking the Government Leadership Awards and the Spectrum for Mobile Broadband Award, respectively. The MWC Ministerial Programme, a key meeting point for discussion among the leaders of the global and Latin American digital ecosystem, brings together ministers, regulatory authorities, international organisations and leading executives of mobile operators.
The Latin American Summit, held on Tuesday 23 February as part of the 2016 Ministerial Programme (the only event at MWC16 conducted in Spanish and Portuguese), focused on how to encourage social innovation through greater connectivity in the region. At the Summit opening, Sebastián Cabello, Head of GSMA for Latin America, said the region had experienced the world’s largest growth in LTE deployment in 2015, adding more than 2.5 million 4G connections a month despite the complicated economic climate. By the end of 2016, connections are expected to hit the 80 million mark. However, Cabello also mentioned the ongoing challenges to continue promoting greater digital inclusion, with reference to the report launched that same day by GSMA Intelligence: Digital Inclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Amos Genish, President and CEO of Telefónica Brasil, made the first keynote presentation of the seminar, explaining the opportunities and challenges of the mobile market in Brazil. “The economic moment is very challenging, and over-regulation and excessive taxation mean that the mobile industry sees the return on its investments and the long-term sustainability of the ecosystem as complicated issues. But we want to face these challenges by improving user experience while we expand our capacity and innovative in the product,” he said.
The second presentation of the Latin American Summit was given by Gabriel Contreras Saldivar, President of Mexico’s Federal Telecommunications Institute (FTI). Contreras discussed topics on the FTI regulatory agenda, such as spectrum, quality of service, network neutrality and asymmetric regulation, highlighting the regulatory approach of FTI in promoting efficient regulations, encouraging competition and providing certainty for investment. He commented on the challenge for infrastructure deployment throughout the region and announced that federal public sites will be available for mobile operators. “We need efficient, standard deployment all over the country that will encourage sharing mechanisms,” he added.
The event also included in-depth discussion on the barriers and incentives for connecting the unconnected in Latin America, in a panel moderated by Antonio García Zaballos, Lead Specialist in Telecommunications at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The participants in the discussion panel were Pedro Huichalaf Roa, Vice Minister of Telecommunications, Chile; Andrés Maz, Executive Director of Public Policy, Cisco Systems; Maryleana Méndez Jiménez, President of the Board, Sutel, Costa Rica; Alejandro Quiroga López, Legal and Regulatory Affairs Director, Telecom Argentina; and Leonardo Saunero, Vice President of Regulation and International Relations, Nuevatel Bolivia.
To close the Latin American Summit 2016, a final discussion panel was held to analyse how to promote improved digital social innovation solutions. Moderated by social entrepreneur and Singularity University graduate Leonardo Valente, President of GenTecnológico, the discussion focused on how to stimulate value creation locally through new apps and services that help to address the needs of the communities in the region. The panel members were Pelayo Covarrubias Correa, President of Fundación País Digital, Chile; Sergio González Guzmán, CEO of Asomóvil Colombia; Javier Placer Mendoza, Head of Telefónica Open Future; Rachel Samren, Executive Vice President of External Affairs, Millicom; and Jorge Vargas, Head of Strategic Partnerships in LATAM, Wikimedia Foundation.
At MWC 2016, the GSMA’s Ministerial Programme also beat its attendance record during four days of seminars, activities and bilateral meetings, with delegations representing 137 countries and 31 international organisations from around the world.
Resources
• Presentation Opportunities & challenges in the Brazilian Telecom market – Amos Genish
• Presentation La industria móvil en México y Latinoamérica: prospectiva de crecimiento y retos regulatorios – Gabriel Contreras Saldívar
• Attendee biographies
• Image gallery
• Mobile World Congress 2016 wrap-up by GSMA Intelligence
• MWC16 Highlights video by Mobile World Live