The ICT issues Ecuador's next government needs to fix

Despite its technological advances, Ecuador still needs to renew spectrum concessions, reduce the digital divide and add more mobile spectrum, especially for 5G.

But ICT is taking a back seat as the country faces an unprecedented political crisis that included a president dissolving the national assembly and triggering snap general elections and a presidential candidate assassinated by gunmen outside a rally in Quito on August 9.

“Digital development issues are not among the priorities in the face of a very deteriorated political and social situation, with presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio assassinated in the middle of the campaign and, less than a month prior, the killing of Manta mayor Agustín Intriago,” Andrés Piazza, co-director of think tank IDD-LAC, told BNamericas.

"Once the government settles in and the current extremely fragile situation is resolved, digital development will move up on the agenda," he added.

The outgoing Guillermo Lasso administration had a strong ICT focus and reduced sector taxes and modified the telecoms law to boost private development.

Recently, the telecoms ministry announced that state company CNT and satellite firm SES will double the internet speed in the Galapagos islands to 2.5Gbps with the installation of a new terminal of the O3b mPOWER medium orbit constellation, which will begin to provide services at the end the year. The ministry expects 10Gbps in the future.

“All the advances we've had at the coverage level have been a purely private effort,” Patricia Falconí, the head of sector association Asetel, told BNamericas.

Falconí said that mobile and fixed services have increased over the last two years, as has the number of fixed internet providers. "Currently, there are around 1,400 internet providers that have been finding market niches in rural or small areas," she added.

When Lasso took office in 2021, some 300 parishes did not have coverage, while currently 211 are not connected.

"However, we still have several issues to address, such as the effective use of the universal service fund," said Falconí. Telecoms companies pay 1% of their income into the fund, which should have US$350mn, but the resources have never been used for projects in the sector.

In addition, a reform that allowed operators to present projects instead of contributing to the fund was not implemented due to lack of regulation.

Falconí also highlighted the need to resolve barriers to infrastructure deployment, simplify regulations, regulatory impact analysis, and strengthen the sector authorities.

A spectrum concessions renewal process has been suspended. “We have the declarations of the government authorities that there will be an extension. However, it has not materialized yet, much less do we know what the terms of this expansion will be,” said Falconí.

Claro's concession expires August 26 and Movistar's November 30.

Frequencies for mobile services also need to be added. "For eight years, we have not been assigned spectrum here in the country," Falconí said. Ecuador started the 5G spectrum assessment, but the bidding process did not advance.

According to Falconí, only 30% of spectrum available for mobile services is assigned. A total of 280MHz of spectrum has been allocated to Claro, Movistar and CNT.

THE ICT AGENDAS OF THE CANDIDATES

Luisa González’s Revolución Ciudadana movement proposes to guarantee equitable access to digital infrastructure and provide the tools to participate in the digital economy. “This implies bridging the digital divide, both in terms of connectivity and digital skills, to avoid the exclusion of marginalized groups and promote equal opportunities,” Piazza said.

The Claro que se Puede alliance of Yaku Pérez proposes the renegotiation of concession contracts and promotes community access, delivering spectrum and financing for community systems. It also plans to provide broadband to educational institutions.

Jan Topic, of Alianza por un País sin Miedo, proposes delivering tablets and computers to schools and install free internet access points.

Otto Sonnenholzer, of Alianza Actuemos, proposes promoting and incentivizing mobile financial services for the revitalization of payment and transactions through mobile applications with and without internet connection.