The Connectivity Challenge to achieve Digital Transformation in Latin America

World Telecommunication Day

May 17, 2023 – During 2023, global IT spending is estimated to reach $4.6 trillion, which entails a 5.1% increase compared to 2022, according to Gartner, Inc. analysis. Additionally, the global telecommunication services market is expected to grow at a 5.4% compound annual rate (CAGR), reaching $2.467 billion by 2028.

In addition to being encouraging, these figures show that after the health crisis, the Telecommunications sector is experiencing an accelerated renaissance to meet countries’, companies’ and people’s needs.

As part of the World Telecommunications and Information Society Day celebration on May 17, meant to help raise awareness of the possibilities that the use of the Internet and other information and communication technologies (ICTs) can bring to societies and economies, we would like to highlight the connectivity industry role in driving economic growth through digital transformation in Latin America.

The world is undergoing a technological transformation that opens new perspectives in all areas on a daily basis, and along with it, digitalization is driving economic growth. Without going any further, the OECD states that a 10% increase in digitalization leads to a 1.9% GDP increase of countries and, in this scenario, connectivity is key.

Telecommunications exist to provide services, connect people and make businesses, services and digital activities viable, and having good connectivity is a must for the advancement of new technologies. Due to the pandemic effect, teleworking, the hybrid model and collaborative work are now part of our reality and a main priority. People from different places worldwide work on an application, an element to which they can make modifications, tests or add artificial intelligence capsules, for example, which help them facilitate the task by taking a much broader information spectrum.

Furthermore, thanks to Artificial Intelligence and analytics, people can work, manage, decide and influence; and telecommunications need to support all this. This is where Edge Computing, one of the major trends in the area in 2023, becomes relevant, since in tandem with CDN networks they bring content as close to the end-user as they possibly can, and facilitate management of large data volumes.

Today telecommunications are heading to the plurality of media, streamlining of operations and automation of activities. Since 5G coverage in the region is still in progress, we need to advance in the application of low-height wireless and satellite networks to cover remote areas or without fiber reach.

The development of technologies is intended to support all users’ needs, and companies are heading to manage information more dynamically, with an increasingly large volume, that is, supporting managed information demand from remote points, and this is where we still need to “catch up”.

Latin America’s geography is complex, and this imposes an additional challenge on us. There are large cities with high capability concentration levels and quality of services, coexisting with several isolated populations without resources.

So, where are we going and how do we move forward? Expanding the territory capillarity through backbones and branches to take connectivity everywhere, trying to balance opportunities or, at least, providing access, thus making progress in this important challenge for all those who are in this business: bridging gaps and furthering progress in Latin America through technology, guiding companies on their journey to digital transformation.