ASSESSMENT OF ANDICOM 2009: THREE DAYS OF DEBATE REGARDING THE ICT INDUSTRY.

CARTAGENA DE INDIAS, Colombia -- In the presence of President Alvaro Uribe Velez, the 24th session of the 2009 ANDICOM Telecommunications Congress was brought to a close on October 30. Over a period of three days, almost 2,600 people from 26 countries were present at the deliberations of each of the academic workshops. Delegates from more than 500 companies were involved; 120 appointments took place during the business roundtable and 110 national and international conference attendees participated, who shared their vision of the future of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) industry.

In addition, during the closing session, the winners of the VI COMCEL-LG Mobile Application Programming Marathon were given awards. After a competitive selection process in which 90 teams from 50 universities throughout the country participated, first place went to the team from EAFIT University of Medellin.

Another figure that was notable during the congress was the presence of 170 journalists, of which 51 took part in the fifth edition of Technodigital. This event was developed with support from the ICT Ministry, and on this occasion the topic of the seminar was: "Journalism, Technology, and Serving the Public" and its objective was to reflect on the impact of ICT in the daily life of Colombians.

Thanks to the Images & Networks Business Consortium, the ANDICOM 2009 participants were able to attend the second act of the Don Giovanni Opera. This was made possible thanks to the staging of this well known work of Mozart recorded in high definition. This is a good example of the application of technology in the cultural sphere.

In the closing ceremony, the Executive Director of CINTEL, Manuel Martinez NiSo, made an assessment of the development of the 2009 ANDICOM Telecommunications Congress. The complete text of Mr. Manuel Martinez's speech is as follows:

Distinguished and respected Mr. President,

It is a great honor for us to again be able to count on your presence on this important national and international stage in which research, innovation, strategy, and marketing are linked with Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to generate a great social and business potential that will result in economic and social growth.

Mr. President, CINTEL, the Telecommunications Research Center, a corporation whose board of directors is chaired by the Minister of Information and Communications Technologies, gathers together operators of telecommunications services, Colciencias, SENA, 17 universities and industry representatives with the aim of accelerating the spread and effective use of ICT in all productive sectors so that ICT turns into their preferred tool for daily use in all their actions.

This Congress, which is already celebrating 24 consecutive years, allows all of us participants in this industry from government, academia, and the private sector, to gather in this space to generate innovative strategies and academic and commercial alliances with which we make the appropriation and effective use of ICT increasingly viable for our society. Naturally, we want to accelerate our level of economic and social development through an effective inclusion of the digital world.

Those present, professors and students from almost 80 universities who are following remotely through the RENATA academic high speed network, as well as many other followers through Internet social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr, have had the privilege of listening to masterful presentations by national and international lecturers on diverse thematic cycles where we reflected on the most important topics that define the future of our industry. I would like to recognize and thank EMCALI for its technological support in the implementation of this transmission.

For the second time, France has accompanied us as a Guest of Honor. We have had the opportunity to share with a significant number of businesses from that great nation thanks to the very dedicated work of the French Ambassador in Colombia, JEAN-MICHEL MARLAUD, the Economic and Commercial Advisor of the French Embassy in Colombia, FREDERIC METTETAL, and his team, to whom we reiterate our deepest thanks. We feel equally honored by the presence of the delegates of the French government, Mr. Emmanuel Gabla and Mr. Jean-Bernard Gramunt.

In the academic sessions during these three days, under the slogan Times of Change, Times of Opportunity, we have analyzed the trends of the ICT industry and the impact of politics, regulation, and competition. There have been conferences on the evolution of the use and management of the spectrum, the impact of these technologies on security and defense, the new services and applications made possible by the Colombian satellite, the tender process of which will close in the next few days.

This year we are celebrating the fifteenth anniversary of the operation of mobile cell phone telephony in our country. We had the opportunity, in a very complete session, to analyze the trends in detail, not only in broadband mobile data services, but also in the development of applications and content which may be implemented on these networks to the benefit of the community.

On this occasion, the various agents that produce content, not only for television but also for other media, have presented us with their most recent breakthroughs. Likewise, the members of the Association of Colombian Subscription and Satellite Television Operators-TVPC, met for their annual congress under the Andicom framework.

Mr. President, in the last year we have seen the development of a regulatory environment surrounding ICT, Science, and Technology, that will certainly result in a significant change in the socioeconomic development model of the country.

Examples of this new framework are:

* Law 1341 of 2009, which determines the general framework of ICT in Colombia,

* Law of 1286 of 2009 on science and technology,

* CONPES provisions on national policy with regard to science, technology, and innovation, and

* The CONPES provision on national policy with regard to competitiveness and productivity.

CINTEL has been working on various fronts to support this new sector dynamic in favor of R+D+i. We have recently signed cooperation agreements with scientific and innovative organizations from countries such as Korea, France, and Spain.

We are currently participating in various projects that seek to encourage R+D+i and the creation of consortia with European businesses, universities, and research centers in order to have access to co-financing resources, and consequentially, to cutting-edge knowledge.

One of the agreements that we signed this year was with the French Business Consortium "Images and Networks," a conglomerate that brings together more than 150 businesses, 5,000 researchers, and more than 20 universities and academic centers dedicated to the development and production of technologies related to digital TV and multimedia.

These closer links have allowed CINTEL to take part in three new Euro-Latin American consortia in which we seek to incorporate our country in the Internet of the Future and the development of three-dimensional multimedia content.

With a Colombian delegation supported by Colciencias, we attended the Second European Networks and Multimedia Services Congress in Saint-Malo, France, an event that defines the European strategy for the development of R+D+i in areas related with digital content and the ICT industry. One concrete result of this mission is the offer made to CINTEL by the Telecom Bretagne University for students from Colombian universities to complete Master's and Doctoral degrees at that prestigious institution.

These results ratify the importance of continuing to support these initiatives with the aim of placing the Colombian brand in the international arena as a qualified technological partner at both the research and business level.

We believe that another great advance in R+D+i policy is the issuing of CONPES 3522 on general guidelines for the implementation of industrial and social cooperation agreements (offsets) related to acquisitions of defense materials in Colombia.

With the aim of revitalizing these and other policies related to the technological advance of the sector, we have signed a framework agreement with the Ministry of Defense, the aim of which is mutual cooperation in the organization, coordination and execution of scientific research projects and activities, technological development and innovation, technical support, training, and building qualifications that jointly lead to the strengthening, development, and progress of this Ministry.

We believe that it is of vital importance to follow this outline of offsets in the public technology purchases of the other sectors of the economy, one example of which could be the Bogota subway or suburban railway.

I would like to take advantage of this occasion to mention that we have agreed to work jointly with the Teleton Foundation in an alliance for research into the use of ICT to support the rehabilitation and virtualization of community-based work oriented training programs.

Mr. President, the Internet has been endorsed as the best tool to achieve social inclusion. A good example of this reality is the "Cartagena grows by innovating" project for community strengthening by means of the appropriation of ICT in which we are replicating the experience that we have obtained in the community of La Boquilla. Yesterday, we inaugurated the connectivity of the abovementioned project thanks to the firm support of companies such as COLUMBUS NETWORKS, PROMITEL, the Proboquilla Foundation, and other foundations. In this project, we will offer the greatest connectivity in the country for this type of initiative: 155 Megabits per second, which will allow the incorporation of new Web 2.0 models and tools applied to education, health, and to the public well-being in general.

One of the panels of the Congress that is most notable because of its relevance in the current circumstances was that of the "Models of competitive collaboration for the development of the ICT industry" in which clusters, technical parks, and other plans which encourage the creation of technology-based industries were analyzed.

Mr. President, one year ago we shared our initiative with you related to the project of creating a world class Cluster for the research, formation, and development of ICT.

Today we are developing the pre-feasibility study to further this project in the Sopo Valley. This ICT cluster should have laboratories, classrooms, and workshops equipped with the latest generation of services and installations. Likewise, it should be a free zone of special services and an appropriate setting to create business and academic networks and synergies with government support and international cooperation.

Mr. President, allow me to share with you some statistics from our Andicom 2009 congress. We were accompanied in our deliberations by 2,600 people from 26 countries. Delegates from more than 500 companies were involved; 120 business appointments took place and 110 national and international conference attendees participated, who all shared their vision of the future of the ICT industry.

With the support of COMCEL and LG, we completed the 6th mobile application programming marathon in which the winner was the team from EAFIT University of Medellin, after a competitive selection process in which 90 teams from 50 universities from throughout the country participated.

We were accompanied by 170 journalists, of which 51 took part in the fifth edition of Technodigital. This event was developed with support from the ICT Ministry, and on this occasion the topic of the seminar was: "Journalism, Technology, and Serving the Public" and its objective was to reflect on the impact of ICT in the daily life of Colombians.

Thanks to the Images & Network Business Consortium, the ANDICOM 2009 participants were able to attend the second act of the Don Giovanni Opera. This was made possible thanks to the staging of this well-known work of Mozart, recorded in high definition. This is a good example of the application of technology in the cultural sphere.

During these days of debate, we were able to note important issues that we can highlight as follows:

* The ICT Law establishes the bases for the development of new regulations and regulatory tools under a model of relevant markets, appropriate to the current technical convergence, that will guide and provide incentives for the development and use of technologies for the benefit of society.

* The new Science and Technology Law is an important step that seeks to satisfy the national requirement to incorporate Research, Development, and Innovation as essential elements to increase the added value of our products, encourage the development of national industry, and reduce technical dependence in the country's strategic sectors.

* Social networks, Web 2.0, virtual services and in general, the entire movement associated with the development of connectivity and computational and data storage capacity, are generating new and important opportunities for education, health, productivity, information, and business, among others.

* All types of mobile services are becoming a reality. Entertainment, business and medical, banking and information services, among others, are examples that are allowing us to live with the reality of the benefits offered by mobile technology.

* The increase in both fixed and mobile network capacity is promoting the birth of a significant industry around content for a large number of services and applications.

* The optimization of the use of the radio-electric spectrum is an essential task for the appropriate provision of modern communication services, the introduction of new services, the development of scientific and industrial solutions based on radio frequency, and in general, the support that communications lends to national development.

* The important breakthroughs achieved in Colombia in the field of digital inclusion have allowed us to widen the ICT coverage and benefits in the community, reducing the barriers imposed by geographical, economic, and social conditions.

Mr. President, a few days ago the Telecommunications Company of Bogota ETB, one of our founding members, celebrated its 125th anniversary. We would like to express our sincere congratulations and admiration for its continuous work toward the development of the capital and the nation.

Finally, I would like to reiterate our gratitude for the presence and the backing of organizations such as the World Bank, the Interamerican Development Bank, the Organization of American States, the International Union of Telecommunications, UBIFrance, Sala+, 3G Americas, the US Commercial Service, the European Commission, and the IEEE.

We are also grateful to our excellent lecturers and to the national government represented by the Ministry of Information Technology and Communications, the Ministry of National Education, the Commission of Communications Regulation, the National Commission of Television, Colciencias, National Planning, SENA, and to Proexport.

We would also like to thank the companies connected to ANDICOM, as their presence excites us and motivates us to continue consolidating our Congress as one of the most important of the Latin American region.

I cannot leave, Mr. President, without emphasizing that all the productive sectors of the nation must incorporate clear strategies and policies in their development plans that apply ICT as a priority and as their greatest support tool in achieving their objectives. We are convinced that this Congress is a source of innovative ideas that will be converted into solutions so that our community can accelerate its entry into the much desired Society of Information and Knowledge.

Mr. President, once again many thanks for accompanying us on this stage.

Further information: www.andicom.org.co. Telephone: [phone].

About CINTEL

The Center for Investigation of Telecommunications of Colombia (CINTEL) has the fundamental mission of promoting the development of Information and Communication Technologies. It is formed by various members, including telecommunication operators, universities, and government agencies. Its Board of Directors is presided by the Minister of Communications of Colombia.

Some of its goals are: the study and assimilation of the emerging technological trends with the aim of broadcasting and analyzing their implementation; to offer an open forum to the players of the sector so that they can discuss and analyze the economic aspects of the market, social, political and technological aspects that affect or influence the development of the industry; to promote the development of projects of interest to the sector; to promote specialized technical assistance; to broadcast the state and trends of communications in the country and the world. For further information http://www.cintel.org.co

The original source-language text of this announcement is the official, authoritative version. Translations are provided as an accommodation only, and should be cross-referenced with the source-language text, which is the only version of the text intended to have legal effect.