Before telecommunications service operators, the ICT minister, Sandra Milena Urrutia, officially presented the PrevenTIC public policy, which is basically the commitment of his portfolio so that companies in the sector comply with their legal obligations.
«With this prevention program we want to analyze the risks and accompany and advise all those organizations that aspire to regulate themselves and that want to comply with the regulations. This will lead us to meet the goal of connecting the most remote regions of the country,” Minister Urrutia said during the first meeting 'PrevenTIC: a change for ICT' that brought together operators from 5 departments.
According to the minister, PrevenTIC will be an additional instrument to achieve the connectivity goal that the government of Gustavo Petro has set, which consists of going from 60% to 85% of Colombians connected.
As part of this strategy, heThe small local Internet service providers (ISP) will have until June 30 to register in the ICT registry, in order to regularize and provide the service to remote areas of the country.
The ICT minister assured that these small Internet service providers are great allies to enhance the reach of fiber optics with a view to guaranteeing that digital connectivity can reach regions where the big operators are not.
«One of the possibilities is precisely what already exists, which are the Internet communities or the small Internet providers that already have fiber optics in the regions and based on the needs of their communities, they provide the service; This is possible"said Minister Urrutia in an interview with Impacto TIC during the recent version of Andina Link.
“Clearly we have a national mobile industry strategy that articulates the large operators on issues such as 5G, spectrum, etc. However, there is also a complementary strategy that seeks to respond to the particularities of those regions where traditional operators do not reach. There the local ISPs will make an important contribution”, Agregó.
At Andina Link 2023, the ICT minister had direct contact with representatives of small local Internet providers (ISPs). The official took advantage of the scenario to invite them to regularize until June 30 and stressed that the Petro government has changed its approach to these small operators.
“Our approach is different because in other governments these ISPs were given a more punitive treatment, their equipment was collected. What we are looking for is that these local ISPs register and regularize themselves in the ICT registry, which is a very simple process”
"This registration will allow these local ISPs, which provide a service, to access benefits in terms of financing programs that have resources of 300 billion pesos to close the digital gap," the official stressed.
What is PreventIC?
It is a public policy of the ICT Ministry established by Resolution 3160 of 2017 and modified by the Resolution 0057 of 2021.
En the new Resolution, MinTIC establishes that it is necessary to implement an approach that goes beyond the perspective of surveillance and control, with a long-term vision that helps prevent non-compliance and reflect the evolution of the compliance culture in the information and communications technology sector.
In other words, this policy was designed to promote compliance with the legal and regulatory obligations of providers of telecommunications networks and services, as well as postal operators.
PrevenTIC will strengthen the capacities of the providers so that they optimize the provision of their services, and identify and mitigate the breach of their obligations. Throughout this process, the use of technological tools, such as data analytics, will play an important role.
The ministry also undertakes to review its regulations related to the provision of telecommunications, sound and postal broadcasting services, to align them with the reality of the sector and the needs of users.
According to the entity, these changes are in line with the proposals of the National Development Plan 2022-2026 and with the OECD recommendations.
