Organized as one of the region’s major technology and business gatherings, ANDICOM 2026 will focus on the theme “Unleashing The Power Of AI,” examining how artificial intelligence is being applied across companies, industries and governments.

The congress will connect technology supply and demand through business meetings, networking opportunities, exhibitions and discussions covering artificial intelligence, digital transformation, cybersecurity, connectivity and emerging technologies.

Dates: September 1–4, 2026
Venue: Las Américas complex & Hotel Faranda Collection, Cartagena

For more information and registration details, visit the official ANDICOM website.

Featured photo: ANDICOM 2025 (Photo provided by ANDICOM)

As part of this expansion, InterNexa introduced its new Security Operation Center (SOC) service. This solution is designed to provide organizations with comprehensive cybersecurity management and strengthening capabilities. The SOC is characterized as an advanced monitoring and response center that integrates technology, automation (including artificial intelligence and machine learning), and intelligent real-time analysis to anticipate and effectively respond to cyber threats. The launch of the SOC is set against a backdrop of increasing cyberattacks in Colombia; the Ministry of Information and Communications Technologies (MinTIC) reported approximately 36 billion attempted cyberattacks in Colombia during 2024, positioning the country as the second most targeted in Latin America, accounting for 17% of total attempts.

InterNexa’s capabilities in cybersecurity, cloud, data center, and managed services are intended to support public entities in technology and innovation procurement processes. The company is part of Grupo ISA (BVC: ISA), which in turn is part of Grupo Ecopetrol (NYSE: EC, BVC: ECOPETROL), Colombia’s largest company. This affiliation provides a foundation for high-availability, scalable, and secure solutions, leveraging ISA’s 57 years of experience in critical infrastructure.

During ANDICOM, Loren Moss, executive editor of Finance Colombia, was able to spend a few minutes with InterNexa CEO Saúl Kattan to discuss the company’s strategy and objectives under his leadership; first during a press conference, followed by an exclusive one-on-one interview.

During the press conference with Saúl Kattan before the one-on-one interview, Kattan had these comments:

“This is the most important event Colombia has had. I don’t think there is any other event with as many attendees as ANDICOM. More than 6,000 attendees registered for the event. On the one hand, we are celebrating 40 years of ANDICOM, and on the other, we are celebrating 25 years of InterNexa, which is very important to us. So, we wanted to bring you all together and tell you about a few things. From InterNexa’s perspective, and from the National Government’s perspective.

I believe that from the National Government’s side, we continue to work on connectivity in the regions. We continue to make progress on various issues related to digital transformation. I believe that the most important issue is connectivity. It is how we can truly close the digital divide that exists in the country. Today, we are talking about connectivity of around 60-65%. It depends on how we measure it or who measures it. However, those people who are not connected are clearly the least well-off, the most in need. And this obviously leads to inequality. So, we need to work hard on the issue of connectivity. It should not be a plan of one government or another. This has to be a union of all the forces of the next government to push connectivity forward. It makes no sense to keep talking about new technologies, about being leaders in artificial intelligence, when all this does is increase the digital divide. Increase the difficulties between the most privileged and the least privileged.

So, to do this, we need to close that digital divide, connect Colombia, connect the country, and then we can think about new technologies. New humanized technologies, new technologies that we think about how they help people. They help people truly thrive, truly get ahead. Not just having technologies for the sake of having them. Like, now we have artificial intelligence. So what? How does it help us? How does it help ordinary people? How does it help all of us to have a better quality of life? So that’s from the government’s side. If you want, we’ll open it up for questions, and then we’ll move on to InterNexa.”

Finance Colombia: I’m here with Saúl Kattan: Kattan, the CEO of InterNexa. We are here at ANDICOM 2025. First, Saúl Kattan: thanks for making time. I know that you’re very busy closing deals and not only managing InterNexa —congratulations on that role— but you also have another position, helping the MinTIC, or the Ministry of Telecommunications, Information and Communications. If you would, tell us a little bit about your responsibilities there.

Saúl Kattan: Well, thank you for the invitation. Not only MinTIC, I’m trying to advise the government of Colombia in digital transformation. All the strategy around cybersecurity, all the strategy around data, data centers, cloud, and artificial intelligence. So that’s what I’m working on as a strategy proposition to the government in these aspects. And of course, InterNexa, which is an important player in the market.

Finance Colombia: Things are moving very quickly. We look at what artificial intelligence is doing. But you also mentioned cybersecurity. And I’ve seen several studies that show that Colombia, as a country, including the private sector, but then of course with the government as well, there are gaps when it comes to knowledge, best practices, as well as having the technical infrastructure. What are the steps that the government, but then even the private sector, like here at ANDICOM, what are the steps that we need to take here in Colombia to catch up, to make sure that the country has good defenses against cyber threats?

Saúl Kattan: I think that the most important part is the governance in cybersecurity. We have proposed to create an agency, a cybersecurity agency, that has to go to congress. Unfortunately, congress has denied this law project. The government will insist. But without an agency, a cybersecurity agency that can bring together all the entities, all the public entities, all the government into one agency, it will be very difficult. Other than that, of course, there’s technology. Different types of technology can work.

Another issue is people. We have to train people. There’s a big gap in the number of people with the knowledge of cybersecurity. We calculate that we need around 150,000 more people trained for cybersecurity. So, at the end, if we bring the government, if we bring the technology, and we bring the people, the training of people, I think we can have something more robust for the country.

Finance Colombia: InterNexa is a wholesaler, and you provide services to large-capacity consumers such as cell phone operators and such. What would this security role you’re talking about look like? How can you offer that to the end user? Would it be through the wholesale customers?

Saúl Kattan: Yes, we would not reach the end user. InterNexa’s focus is on wholesale connectivity. We serve operators and CSPs. We have a very important network, a very important neutral network, but we also provide technology services to the minor energy sector and the government sector. So the focus is on these entities, which in turn reach the end user in one way or another. So indirectly, we are reaching the end user, but the idea is to be able to continue focusing on the companies and sectors we are serving. We do not have the capacity at this time to reach the end user. Hopefully, in the future, but at this time, we do not have the capacity.

Finance Colombia: As someone with extensive experience in entities and companies with State or government participation, such as ETB, Ecopetrol, or InterNexa, what is the key to managing the interests of shareholders, whether they be the state, consumers, or private shareholders? If I remember correctly, ETB, for example, is about 80% government-owned and 20% Ecopetrol-owned, more or less. InterNexa has several shareholders. As an executive, how do you strike that balance? If you were advising a young executive, how would you advise them to survive? What would it be like?

Saúl Kattan: I believe that the great challenge for public companies is consistency. There really is no consistency in corporate governance. It often depends on politics. When the government changes, the people change. Sometimes during a government’s term, people change simply for political reasons. And as long as there is no long-term consistency, no long-term strategy, it’s a bit like what I was saying about the country’s connectivity. And the same applies to companies. You see private companies with presidents who last six, seven, eight, 10, or even 20 years. And they have a strategy. And the strategy is being fulfilled. Some are better than others, but it is being fulfilled.

In public companies, unfortunately, governments change and people change. And when people change, they come back and start from scratch because they think, “Well, this comes from the previous government, so let’s do the opposite.” And we see this at ETB. The company was doing wonderfully well, and then it was a debacle. Simply because of a political decision. Now they are trying to rescue it, but we have been in a debacle at ETB for 10 years. The stock dropped 95%. And what happened? Nothing happened. Because it was a political issue. And the financial damage that was done was enormous. If this had been maintained, not even the administration, but if the strategy had been maintained, today ETB would be worth four or five times more than it was 10 years ago. So I recommend that. That you have to maintain a certain long-term strategy for things to work.

Finance Colombia: I remember 10 years ago, when I lived in Bogotá, at the time you were leading ETB, and ETB rolled out something very impressive, and that was fiber to the household. And that was very new at the time, and Colombia was a leader in that, and that was under your leadership there. I now live in Antioquia. I have fiber optic to the house, and I tease some of my friends back in the US that I have double and triple the speeds in a rural area of Antioquia that they can get at any cost, unless they went to an enterprise plan or something like that, back in the States, in some areas, and that’s really amazing.

What have been the keys to success in rolling out fiber? Not just with InterNexa, which obviously is a wholesale provider to the carriers and large enterprises, but you also have experience at the retail level. And how has Colombia led with the adoption of fiber optic as a standard, as opposed to an exotic alternative?

Saúl Kattan: Well, no, I think fiber optic is the best technology that we can have for connectivity. I believe that now, I believed this 10 or 12 years ago when I got to ETB, that was a big project to show that ETB was not a phone company. It was much more than that. We took advantage of all the pipelines, all the networks that ETB had, and we deployed fiber. We were the first ones in Colombia, one of the first ones in the region. We were leaders in bringing fiber to Bogotá. At that time, 100 megabytes per second was amazing. Today it’s very good, but at that time it was outstanding.

Finance Colombia: Exactly.

Saúl Kattan: And of course, that took other companies to see what was happening in ETB, to see what the customers believed that fiber could do, and they started deploying fiber around the country.

Finance Colombia: To catch up.

Saúl Katta: To catch up, and to other countries as well. But today, even today, 10 years later, we can see that Bogotá is a more advanced place in Colombia with fiber.

Finance Colombia: Now, at InterNexa, you have a role as an enterprise that has the State and other entities with shared ownership in InterNexa, and so aside from being a company, you have a public purpose and a public mandate. We just got finished talking about how great things are in Bogotá, how great things are in Medellín, but there are parts of Colombia… We’re here on the Caribbean coast, we’re in Cartagena, but we can go a couple more hours and we’re in La Guajira, or the other way towards Panama, and we’re back in the Gulf of Urabá, or Chocó, or the south like the Amazon and Vaupés and those areas. So in Bogotá, Medellín, everything is world-class, but there are parts of Colombia that maybe have a lot of catching up to do. What is the role that InterNexa can play as a backbone provider, the social side of things, to help advance and equalize that connectivity?

Saúl Kattan: I do believe that Colombia has a big gap in connectivity. Today, 30 or 40%, depending on how you measure things, of people in Colombia do not have connectivity or have very bad connectivity. And I do believe that it doesn’t matter if you do a deployment to low-income areas to make things profitable. You can do a business providing fiber, providing connectivity to all these places that you mentioned that do not have connectivity. And I think that it’s possible. I think that in some places, maybe we need a little bit of help, financial help from the government. But other than that, I think there are a lot of places where if we get the fiber there, it will bring connectivity. There are a lot of ISPs, small ISPs, that can bring connectivity to the households and decrease the connectivity gap. So I think it is possible. I think it’s possible.

I think that InterNexa is a profitable business. We do business to make money because of our return for our investors, which is ISA. But of course, we can help the people. We can help all these regions with no connectivity, being a profitable company. I don’t think they’re going the wrong way.

Finance Colombia: Great. So that means that with ISA, InterNexa is generating profits; it doesn’t need government subsidies. Right now, when we’re in a fiscal crunch here in Colombia, it’s actually helping to solve the problem rather than saying, “Hey, we need subsidies” or things like that.

Saúl Kattan: Yes, of course. The problem of places like Colombia and many other countries is that the big carriers want to have the big markets, of course. That’s where the meat is. That’s where the big profits are. So you go to Bogotá, you go to Medellin, you go to Cali, Barranquilla, Cartagena, the big cities. But when you have to go to other places, you have to make a much bigger effort to get there. It becomes much more difficult. There are profits, but probably a lower amount of profits.

Finance Colombia: Right.

Saúl Kattan: But at the end, if you can make both, if you can bring all the fiber, the big networks to the big cities, but also to the small cities, I think that the complement is great for the country. And it will bring more profits for everyone. Because if there’s connectivity, there will be more opportunities for the people. There will be better health for the people. There will be a lot of places where people can go for tourism. And it will bring more consumption of the internet.

Finance Colombia: Absolutely.

Saúl Kattan: And it will increase the use of the fiber. So, at the end, it is a win-win situation for everyone.

Finance Colombia: I think just like roads, the fiber optics and connectivity backbone, whatever technology, if it’s a microwave or a satellite or fiber, is the great driver these days, even more so than roads, as was the case, let’s say, in the 20th century. Because, you know, it breaks my heart. I was in parts of La Guajira, and I saw little communities. They didn’t even have cellular access, let alone internet access. They have no access at all. And so even if you’re a school, even if you’re a student and you do your part, it doesn’t matter because you’re going to be left behind without that. And so it’s so critical to get these services to these areas where you can develop that human talent.

Saúl Kattan: It is critical and it is very important for the development of the country. You don’t have to go to La Guajira to see this. When you go 20 minutes away from Bogotá, you can see it. There is no connectivity or very bad connectivity. You cannot hold a conference call going from Bogotá to La Calera. Where La Calera is, for the people that don’t know, is basically a part of Bogotá.

Finance Colombia: Yeah, it’s a suburb in the northeast.

Saúl Kattan: A big part of Bogotá, yeah. So there’s a lot of work to do. There are a lot of opportunities. There are a lot of investments to be made. And it’s about time. It’s about money. And it’s about the consistency of the next government and the next couple of governments that we can continue working and doing things. Unfortunately, politics work in a different direction. And when another government comes, they want to change everything. And then you don’t get the benefits of a long-term strategy.

Finance Colombia: Exactly. And I guess I would say don’t feel too bad because as we can see, that’s not a problem unique to Colombia. Back in my own home country, we have the same problems, in other parts of the world as well. But you’ve been very successful navigating this. I think I first met you back at ETB, and I’ve followed your career since then. You’ve had success doing your part at Ecopetrol, of course. And that’s almost impossible. It’s like one of those reality shows. You know? So congratulations. You’ve been able to have a positive impact wherever you go. And I appreciate your time. I want to let you get back to the deal-making and the moving and the shaking as we do here. And it’s great to see you again.

Saúl Kattan: Thank you very much.

Finance Colombia: Absolutely.

Saúl Kattan: Thank you. Thank you for your time.

According to the regulator’s Data Flash report, Colombia’s fixed services market, which includes internet, telephony, and television, reached 10.8 million total connections, with 88.1% belonging to residential customers.

The preference for bundled services, or “paquetes,” continued to grow. As of December 2024, triple-play bundles (internet, phone, and TV) accounted for 40.9% of all connections, an increase of 0.9 percentage points compared to the end of 2023. Double-play packages represented another 17.2% of the market, with the combination of telephony and internet being the most common, totaling over 1.15 million connections. Stand-alone, single-service contracts accounted for the remaining 41.9% of accesses, growing 1.85% over the previous year.

Total revenue from fixed services during the fourth quarter of 2024 reached $3.12 trillion COP, a 1.4% increase compared to the same period in 2023. The average monthly revenue per user stood at $96,142 COP. This growth was driven almost entirely by fixed internet services, which saw revenues climb by 9.14%. In contrast, revenue from the subscription television segment fell by 8.9%.

Diving deeper into the data, the number of fixed internet connections rose by 2.27% to a total of 9.09 million. This equates to a national household penetration rate of 44.4 connections for every 100 homes. The report also noted a significant increase in connection speeds, with the national average reaching 382.3 Mbps for downloads and 235.1 Mbps for uploads.

The television market moved in the opposite direction. Total pay-TV connections (including subscription and community-based services) reached 6.2 million. Of those, 6.1 million were for subscription television, a segment that saw its subscriber base shrink by 1.34% compared to the fourth quarter of 2023.

Claudia Ximena Bustamante, commissioner and executive director of the CRC, stated that the report is a result of the commission’s ongoing monitoring of ICT markets and serves as an informational tool for public and private entities. She affirmed that the CRC’s objective is to continue promoting conditions that ensure quality, affordable, and widespread service coverage for citizens, noting the importance of fixed internet as a growth engine for the sector.

Internet access. Photo credit: OleksandrPidvalnyi from Pixabay.

The congress is set to begin with a pre-congress session on September 2, followed by the main congress from September 3 to 5, 2025.

ANDICOM is an established event within the technology and business sectors in Colombia and Latin America. Organized by CINTEL, the congress aims to convene industry leaders to analyze trends impacting the digital landscape in the region and review technological evolution over the past decades.

CINTEL, founded in 1991, focuses on applied research projects in digital technologies. The organization states its role in promoting digital transformation across various sectors in Colombia.

Manuel Martínez Niño, Executive Director of CINTEL, commented on the upcoming event, noting its history and CINTEL’s stated commitment to digital development in Colombia and the region. He added that the event will facilitate the strengthening of alliances and the projection of the digital future.

The academic agenda for ANDICOM 2025 is structured around four themes:

September 2 (Pre-Congress): Applied Tech Trends in Business
September 3: Digital Transformation and Evolution
September 4: Connectivity and the Future of ICT
September 5: Digital Economy: Challenges and Innovations
ANDICOM 2025 is expected to cover topics such as artificial intelligence, data, cybersecurity, 5G connectivity, sustainability, and digital inclusion. A commercial exhibition will feature technology companies showcasing strategies and case studies. The event also includes networking opportunities to connect public, private, and academic participants.

Registration for ANDICOM 2025 is open. The event’s official website has further information and registration details.

Photo credit: ANDICOM.

Japan, recognized for its innovation in technology, will present developments across various sectors, including artificial intelligence, robotics, 5G connectivity, smart cities, and disaster management. These innovations will be featured during ANDICOM 2024, an event organized by CINTEL (Center for Research and Development in Information and Communication Technologies).

In a recent visit to Japan, CINTEL executives, along with Ángela Durán, Colombia’s Minister Plenipotentiary in Japan, met with Yoshida Hitoshi, Japan’s Vice Minister of International Affairs at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications. Discussions focused on the technological and knowledge exchange facilitated by the congress and how CINTEL promotes ICT adoption and business innovation in Latin America.

Japan’s participation in ANDICOM 2024 is expected to enhance collaboration between Colombian and Japanese entities, as well as with other global participants. The Japanese Pavilion at the event will feature companies such as NEC, Nihon Dengyo Kosaku, Ai Trax, Terumo, Furukawa Electric, Fujikura, Sumitomo Electric Industries, Nippon Koei, Hitachi Vantara, OREX SAI, and Global Plan.

Key Areas of Japanese Technological Focus:

• Artificial Intelligence (AI): Investment in research and development in machine learning, natural language processing, and computer vision.
• Robotics: Japan continues to lead globally in robotics, with ongoing advancements in collaborative robots.
• Biotechnology: Focus on personalized medicine, agriculture, and new material development.
• Information and Communication Technologies (ICT): Development of new ICT technologies, including 5G and the Internet of Things (IoT).
• Energy: Research and development in renewable energy and fusion energy.
• Space Science: Investment in space exploration and technology development.
• Marine Sciences: Research aimed at understanding and sustainably utilizing ocean resources.
• Advanced Manufacturing: Investments to improve the competitiveness of Japan’s manufacturing industry.

For more information on Japan’s participation and other event details, visit the official ANDICOM website.

Website: ANDICOM

The new facilities give exhibitors and attendees up to 70,000 square meters of indoor, air conditioned space to interact around the 2023 theme of “Get into the Digital World” with focii on Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, Virtual and Augmented Reality, Blockchain, 5G and the Internet of Things.

Hotels near the event are filling quickly.

Over three days, conferences and panel discussions will take place on these topics:

• September 6 – “Policies & GovTech Solutions for a connected society”.  In this space, the roadmap in terms of sectoral policy and regulation for the coming years will be discussed and the way in which disruptive trends will impact the  State and the digital citizen in daily life.
• September 7– “Strategies for digital acceleration”.  Digital acceleration strategies for business will be the topic as well as the new challenges, services and applications that have changed the way many tasks are performed.
• September 8 – “Beyond Digital”.  This day will center around the effectiveness of technological trends such as AI, Quantum Computing, Web 3.0, Metaverse, digital platforms and Gaming.

“ANDICOM 2023 is the scenario for all industries to integrate into the digital world, know the effective application of technological trends, and also interact with the protagonists and industry leaders who make social and economic transformation possible through technology,” said Manuel Martínez Niño, Executive Director of CINTEL (Center for Research and Development in Information and Communication Technologies),  organizer of the Congress.

During last year’s event, ANDICOM featured:

• 5,000 attendees
• 1,500 participating companies
• Participants from from 30 countries
• 140 exhibitors
• 70+ academic sessions
• 120 world-class speakers

Minister Urrutia, who served as president of Citel, said that “one of our objectives is to establish strong and fruitful relationships with countries in the region that allow us to learn about experiences that enrich us and, at the same time, present our programs and strategies. The issues on which we will work with the Dominican Republic, such as policies for accessibility, connectivity, the development of digital skills in citizens and the safe and responsible use of ICTs, are fundamental in our task of democratizing access to ICTs.”

The memorandum is valid for two years, extendable if the two countries so decide. Among the actions contemplated are the organization of dialogue tables; conducting joint workshops; exchange of material, information, documentation and data available in the areas of cooperation, design, planning and development of agreed strategic cooperation plans and policies; and implementation of joint projects to enable access to ICTs from an equity and inclusion perspective.

MinTIC’s strategy: “to connect the unconnected”

After the signing of the memorandum of understanding with the Dominican Republic, Minister Urrutia participated in the panel ‘The progress of technical assistance for the implementation of the initiative to connect the unconnected’, where she presented Conecta TIC 360, the MinTIC strategy to bring the country’s digital connectivity to 85%, as the Government of change has committed.

“We work to not only bring connectivity, infrastructure, but additionally we want to bring digital literacy. We are convinced that technology is the means to development and cannot be exclusive or exclusive. Our goal is to incorporate women, young people, people with disabilities, the elderly, because the center of all digital transformation is the human being,” said Minister Urrutia.

The minister explained that Colombia is advancing in the implementation of two complementary strategies to achieve the goal of increasing connectivity with fixed and mobile access by 85% by 2026. The first is a national strategy where we work with the mobile industry, the satellite industry, different entrepreneurs and emerging technologies, among other actors. The other is a focused regional one, which will strengthen small Internet service providers and connectivity communities to bring connectivity to deep Colombia.

See also: Indotel’s Julissa Cruz Is Raising The Dominican Republic’s Level of IT Competitiveness

Above photo: Nelson Arroyo, president of the Board of Directors of Indotel, Joel Santos, Minister of the Presidency of the Dominican Republic and Sandra Urrutia, Minister of ICT (courtesy MinTIC).

“This is great news for the country, for the Colombian ICT industry. To think that this Congress has so much international resonance that other countries are telling us: “we want to have one!” We have already confirmed our brand presence in the Mesoamerican country. It is a much larger environment, [this will be] a kind of export of a very productive, competitive and well-known Colombian image,” said Martinez.

This announcement validates the success that this year’s ANDICOM has had, uniting 5,000 attendees in 70 academic sessions, with more than 120 speakers and more than 140 participating international companies occupying 7,000 square meters of commercial exhibition space.

“We are proud to say that ANDICOM is an export product. Our convention will continue in Cartagena. It is news that motivates us and fills us with pride that many national and multinational organizations have told us we will be present. The digital wave is beginning to strengthen not only in Colombia but also at a Latin American level,” added Martínez.

The importance and priority of connectivity in the country mentioned by the President of the Republic, Gustavo Petro at the opening of the Congress, was complemented by the presentations of more than 120 world-class speakers who discussed the acceleration, creation and confidence in new business models, among other issues of  relevance for Colombia and the region, as well as cybersecurity, blockchain, analytics, cloud, 5G, and other emerging technologies.

The 37th version of ANDICOM hosted domestic and international experts, who shared their knowledge and experiences, some examples being:

Connecting to the Internet of the Future: The Metaverse

The Metaverse, following the paths of the Internet, would add to the the benefits that the Internet has given us in the last 20 years, enhancing it through technology — Dr. Lester García, Head of Public Policy, Meta.

How to incentivize blockchain adoption in the public and private sector

Blockhain is very important because it has many uses other than storing data. One of its uses is in financial services, it is a revolution that money can be sent as an email, this generates a form of global liquidity — Diana Barrero Zalles, research and sustainability leader of the Global Blockchain Business Council – GBBC.

On Thursday, Colombia’s Delegate Registrar for the National Registry of Civil Status, Marcelo Mejía, announced the most important technology-based project in Colombia: the Digital Cédula. This will be a great challenge for the new government, which seeks to identify digitally to more than 40 million Colombians, thus becoming the key to secure access to digital services.

To learn more about ANDICOM, visit https://andicom.co

Oviedo discussed four areas of research:

• Digital services in national (telephony) accounts,
• ICT usage in households,
• ICT usage in companies,
• The effect of the COVID pandemic on enterprise ICT utilization.

According to the report, telecommunications-related activities grew by 0.5% during 2020, while in 2019 that increase was 5.3%. As for IT services, 2020 saw a 2.4% contraction of activities, compared to an increase of 8.5% reported in 2019.

Among other important findings, during the pandemic, several sectors saw growth:

• Mobile telephony services (8%)
• Internet connectivity (5%), and
• Other telecommunications services (5.5%).

56.5% of Colombian households have internet connection. However, there is a vast difference between urban connectivity where 66.5% of homes are online, and rural connectivity, which only reaches 23.8%. The Colombian departments with the best internet access are Bolívar, Valle, Bogotá, Risaralda, and Santander. The areas with the most deficient access are Chocó, Vichada, and Vaupés.

“We can say that Colombia in terms of internet connectivity seems to be made up of only 14 departments. But this also shows us, without a doubt, the great gap that exists between the urban and rural areas of Colombia,” Oviedo said.

After a brief count related to the proportion of households that have an internet connection nationwide, the DANE   voter explained the reasons why a significant percentage of users do not have connectivity.

“Among the main reasons highlighted by the rural population for not having internet is that there is no coverage in the area, followed by the high cost. For their part, citizens affirmed that the main reason for not having internet is that the service is very expensive,” explained Oviedo

To learn more about ANDICOM, visit https://andicom.co

The event saw participation of more than 1,250 companies and 180 speakers across 80 academic sessions on the agenda. The directors of CINTEL, the organizing body of ANDICOM, say that businesses transacted during the days of the congress exceed $60 million USD.

ANDICOM 2022 will be held in Cartagena de Indias from August 31 to September 2.

“The networking at ANDICOM is constant: the search for business opportunities, the identification of commercial allies, the knowledge of new projects in the public and private sector, the identification of new job opportunities, the technological update, opportunities for new ventures, enrich each once again our highest meeting of the ICT industry in Colombia and in the region,“ said Manuel Martínez Niño, Executive Director of CINTEL.

The opening keynote was given by Colombia’s President, Iván Duque, who emphasized sustainability to face the climate crisis. “We want Colombia to project itself as the world leader in sustainability, which allows it to be the second most biodiverse country in the world and to have a transforming force towards the fourth industrial revolution that every day positions us as the Silicon Valley of Latin America,” said President Duque.

Minister of Information and Communication Technologies, Carmen Ligia Valderrama Rojas

During the closing of ANDICOM, the new Minister of Information and Communication Technologies, Carmen Ligia Valderrama Rojas, presented her ministry’s ICT sector roadmap, again highlighting the importance of sustainability. Valderrama announced that the Duque administration will be issuing a decree increasing the caps for wireless spectrum below 3 GHz and will define a new category for spectrum in bands between 3 GHz and 6 GHz to enable the allocation of the 3 GHz band, which currently has about 400 MHz available for 5G.