On May 29th, a virtual session was held on telecommunications and coronavirus, and the repercussions of the pandemic on the economy and society, as well as the opportunity this time opens to rethink the Internet.
The event was organized by FLACSO Chile and the Chilean Senate, led by the expert Rodrigo Ramírez Pino.
In this session, the speakers were Maryleana Mendez, Secretary General of the ASIET ; Fernando Rojas, specialist in telecommunications and digital economy at ECLAC ; Fernando Borjón, consultant at Access Partnership ; Oscar M. González, former deputy secretary of regulation of the Secretary of Communication and Information Technologies of Argentina, and Gerardo Mantilla, director of regulatory projects at Artifex Consulting .
Maryleana Méndez highlighted that Chile has done an outstanding job in connectivity and commented on some opportunities for change to improve coverage in the country and also to maximize the benefits of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).
Fernando Rojas presented data from the Regional Broadband Observatory, highlighting Internet access by income quintile in the region. Chile, he said, has an advantageous position regarding Internet access, allowing the possibility of being able to take advantage of all the advantages of the digital ecosystem.
In turn, Fernando Borjón summarized the progress of the decisions they have made in Mexico so that telecommunications continue to play a leading role in the education, health and income generation of the population.
Subsequently, Oscar M. González discussed the impact of the pandemic on the network infrastructure and digital services. In addition, he raised the proposal for the creation of a legal development that establishes the characteristics of digital citizenship.
Gerardo Mantilla spoke about the Digital Economy, the levels of formality and informality of the economies in Latin America. He also discussed the various concepts of neutrality, as well as the opportunity to use spectrum allocations to drive investment, using investment-driving measures in addition to radio spectrum.
Read the full article here (Spanish version).
