In 9 months the Live Digital Plan boosts the growth of the ICT sector in Colombia

In 9 months the Live Digital Plan boosts the growth of the ICT sector in Colombia

ICT Minister, Diego Molano Vega, during his State of the Ministry and Accountability presentation for the Ministry of Information Technology and Communications, he presented the progress of all the initiatives through which the live Digital Plan is being implemented. He also highlighted the increase of 71.4% of subscribers to broadband Internet between March 2010 and March 2011, the existence of 45,342,049 mobile phone subscribers and reported that the income of the Information Technology and Communications Fund (FONTIC) amounted to $ 691,642 million.

During the Public Hearing of the State of the Ministry and Accountability presentation, Minister Molano Vega, presented the progress of the Technology Plan "Live Digital" led by the ICT Ministry that seeks to increase Internet usage and jump from 2.2 million connections to 8.8 million. To date in Colombia there exist 3.6 million network connections.

The plan, which will be the policy of President Juan Manuel Santos administration in ICT matters, will promote the expansion of infrastructure, the creation of services, application development and appropriation of technology by users.

"During the administration of President Juan Manuel Santos we will continue to work in order for technology to help us reduce poverty, generate employment, improve the competitiveness of the country and achieve prosperity for all," said ICT Minister, Diego Molano Vega.

The Minister highlighted the progress of major initiatives through which the Live Digital Plan was launched. In Infrastructure with an investment of $ 415 thousand million pesos, the program Compartel is implementing the National Fiber Optic Project allowing 400 municipalities to have fiber optic and thus achieve the goal of the Technology Plan to connect 700 municipalities to this high quality data transmission medium in the country by 2014.

On the other hand, Minister Molano Vega informed that during the past nine months the National Spectrum Agency (ANE) conducted technical, legal and economic studies to support the allocation process of the 30 Mghz on the band of 1,900 Mghz that the Ministry of TIC is working on. In three years twice the spectrum will be allocated than the National Government has allocated in the last 15 years.

Also, the National Spectrum Committee was created as an advisory board to the ICT Ministry and the National Spectrum Agency whose functions are to develop and analyze policy proposals, use and management of spectrum in the country.

The Development Fund of Television is currently implementing digital terrestrial television, which will take 10 years to reach full coverage of the country. Currently the first phase is being developed which will include 13 stations covering 50% of the national territory. This objective is conducting a tender with pre-bid process and the development plan is completed in its entirety. The resources from the CNTV are being expected in order to begin implementation.

In the service component is another advancement of the Plan live digital such as the exclusion of Taxes on Internet service for strata levels 1, 2 and 3. Currently, the Ministry conducts studies to support this initiative which will be proposed in Congress in the next legislature, and this tax benefit will be a reality in 2012.

The provision through the social program Computers for Educating (CPE) of about 29 thousand computers in more than 1,300 educational centers, cultural centers and public libraries, benefiting 113 thousand students and17 thousand teachers in the most remote regions of the country . In total about 6 million children have benefited from the management of CPE.

The Plan "Live Digital" also contemplates the consolidation of a regulatory framework, institutional and regulatory convergence that promotes competition and generates investment with social benefits such as price, coverage and quality of services. In this sense, the constitutional status of CNTV was removed and the Ministry leads the creation of a new independent regulatory body that regulates audiovisual content. To date there have been four forums to determine how the new structure of the new regulatory body should be for monitoring and regulating content.

Speaking of applications another development of the Plan "Live Digital" has been the strengthening of the Government Online initiative in the country. Colombia is the first country in Latin America with all of its municipalities on the Internet; during 2011 there were 48 million visits to these pages. Today 795 local authorities between governors and mayors have the support of territorial Government On-Line in the development of three processes and an online service.

The Promotion policy of the digital content industry was launched which aims to convert Colombia into a production center of applications and regional content. It also includes the creation of four Vive labs laboratories of digital content creation in the country. The initiative aims to triple its domestic sales by 2014.

Regional Live Digital is an initiative that promotes access, use and massive appropriation of ICT in all of the departments in the country. This tool began in the month of May supporting the country's 32 departments. The initiative received 30 proposals in which resources will be allocated for $45 thousand million and $50 thousand million more in 2012. Furthermore, this tool of the Plan "Live Digital" will promote with the new mayors and governors, new investments in ICT in their development plans.

Revenue of the Information Technology and Communications Fund (FONTIC)

Another indicator that reflects the behavior of the ICT sector in the country during the period of May 2010 to May 2011 was FONTIC´s revenues totaling $ 691,642 million. During 2010 the Funds revenues were $ 578,593 million, an increase of $ 78,908 million compared to last year.

Information of Interest

Download here the State of the Ministry and Accountability presentation

MORE INFORMATION

Ministry of ICT

Press and Communications Office

Margarita María Mora Tel. 3443460 Ext. 2362

Gabriel Jaime Macia tel. 3443460 Ext. 4096