Access to telecommunications is also a gender issue

“Knowing that there is a gender gap helps to promote public policies on the government agenda, as issues of access or digital security become more specific,” said Peña.

Telefónica, for its part, pointed out some success stories that it has experienced in Latin America in order to improve coverage, quality and profitability for people and promote the economic recovery of the countries where it operates.

During the panel “New Alliance Model to overcome connectivity challenges in Latin America” ​​at MWC 2023, some companies in the region spoke about this topic, where they highlighted the relevance of infrastructure sharing.

“Cooperation is key, so that operators can share infrastructure and expand connectivity, as well as develop wholesale neutral networks that allow various companies to use them,” said Alfonso Gómez Palacio, CEO of Telefónica Hispanoamérica.

By way of example, in Colombia and Chile alliances have been made with the KKR investment fund to develop neutral wholesale companies that contribute to expanding fiber optics to the home. In the case of Chile, they already have 3.5 million homes with the possibility of contracting fiber optic service, and in Colombia with 2 million.

Likewise, in Peru Internet for All (IpT) was created by Meta (Facebook), IDB Invest and CAF to expand mobile internet in rural areas. In nearly 4 years of operations, IpT already offers 4G connectivity to more than 3 million people living in remote locations.

In Mexico, since 2019 there has been a capacity agreement for AT&T’s wireless last-mile access network that has made it possible to cover 227 markets with LTE, which represents 89% of the national population, more than 30% of what it was in 2019. Similarly, in Argentina several agreements have been signed with local operators to connect customers with fiber optics, and today the company in that country has around one million customers with connections to this technology.

“Our industry needs to have a long-term vision. Sharing is a fundamental element to ensure the sustainability of the telecommunications sector and will allow us to achieve objectives such as the expansion of service coverage,” said Alfonso Gómez Palacio, CEO of Telefónica Hispanoamérica, when log out.