Telecoms & IT

Following the macroeconomic expansion of the past decade, Colombia’s telecommunications industry has experienced significant growth. The weight of the sector nearly doubled from 1.6% of GDP in 1994 to 3.14% in 2014, according to the Mobile Industry Association of Colombia, while annual revenues reached $7.99bn in 2014 and are expected to jump to $8.6bn by 2018. An increase in regulatory oversight has helped ensure service quality and a reduction of average communications prices, though market players are now operating in an increasingly competitive arena. Meanwhile, governmental implementation of IT policies under the Vive Digital plan has helped broaden the use of IT across all levels of society. According to Colombian think-tank Fedesarrollo, as of mid-2015 the ICT sector accounted for 7.5% of GDP and had been expanding by an annual average of 9.9% for the past decade.  

This chapter includes an interview with Seong Hyun Lee, President, Samsung Colombia.