VARADERO, Cuba, June 15 (Xinhua) -- The telecommunications sector is one of the driving forces of Latin American economies and will speed up production processes in the region, top industry experts said.
In the framework of the Sixth Latin American Telecommunications Congress which ended on Friday in the Cuban resort of Varadero, representatives from 38 countries agreed that the industry of information and communication technologies (ICT) is booming globally.
The sector is responsible for major breakthroughs in the productive processes of regional economies to make them more efficient, as Latin America is the continent that has seen the slowest increase in productivity in recent years.
Experts stated that this must be urgently corrected, as telecommunications is crucial to the technological transformation and innovation required by these nations.
"There is no greater challenge than increasing productivity in order to achieve economic growth. The telecommunications industry is a strategic ally for the progress of Latin America," said Pablo Bello, president of the meeting's organizing committee.
He said that 56 percent of Latin Americans currently use the Internet, while broadband is enjoyed in 45 percent of homes, with territorial coverage of more than 81 percent. Additionally, voice services reach 95 percent of the population.
"We have invested 290 billion U.S. dollars in the last 12 years and the digital ecosystem already represents five percent of the GDP of Latin America," he said.
Bello added the region has robust and widespread infrastructure, having made great advances in Internet speed and a clear reduction in prices.
To further this, Bello encouraged state policies to promote investment in connectivity networks.
"In the next 10 years, we must be able to close the digital gaps that exist in our countries. We need world-class connectivity infrastructure that satisfies the present and future needs of the economic transformation we are experiencing," he said.
He said Latin America needs networks to serve more users and support the exponential growth of data traffic, which are "more robust, with higher speeds, flexible, of low latency and based on diverse technological solutions."
A similar approach is shared by Cuba, according to Maimir Mesa, the island's communications minister, who explained that the country has laid out the foundations of a national economic and social development plan by 2030.
This plan sees telecommunications and ICT as key to the country's positive transformation.
"Access to ICT and the Internet should help people, organizations and communities to realize their full potential, promote sustainable development and improve quality of life," Mesa said.
He added that there is political will within the Communist Party and the Cuban government to promote the sector, in order to accelerate the country's economic, social and cultural development.
For this reason, investments in technological infrastructure have increased in recent years and work is continuing to increase Internet access and ICT services for citizens.
Around 4.5 million Cubans can currently connect to the Internet through more than 1,600 public areas in the country, at institutions and other sites.
Despite the progress made in the last decade, the Caribbean minister maintained that the economic blockade imposed by the U.S. impeded the development of the sector.
"We must address the inadequate infrastructure and capacity of the poorest countries to face future challenges. We must join efforts to reduce the digital gap between developed and developing countries in terms of connectivity, innovation and access to ICT," he said.
In this sense, Bruno Ramos, director of the Americas of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), said the event has been an effective platform to seek new proposals for development in the region.
He explained that the summit has served to implement important goals by 2021, as well as help move forward the UN's 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
"We are not here as the solution to all the problems of humanity but our sector can help our nations. Our work will be to provide practical projects with solutions that can bring concrete results," said the top ITU official.
