Chile's GTD plans to stick to investment rhythm in 2023

Chilean telecom group GTD plans to maintain the same rate of investment during 2023, although it remains cautious due to the situation in Latin America.

"We have to see how the market behaves and how Latin American countries enter the process of reorganizing their economies," CEO Fernando Gana told BNamericas.

The company has an investment plan of US$600mn over five years.

"We invest in our clients and, if the clients are not in a position to invest, we have to postpone projects," Gana added.

The CEO said that contraction began to be seen in the market in the second half of 2022. However, he is optimistic because digital transformation in times of crisis, "is very important," he said.

"We have been in great demand for our service in pursuit of developing and implementing the digital transformation strategy that implies a change in the cost structure of our clients," Gana added.

The company looks to continue growing in the region "at a reasonable pace." Next year it plans to start construction of new datacenters in Peru and Colombia, markets where the capacity of current datacenters is almost at a limit.

Gana sees a development opportunity in the areas of migration to the cloud and cybersecurity.

ACQUISITIONS

GTD acquired in 2020 75% of Ecuadoran company Secure Soft. Then it bought a Chilean operator, Cable de la Costa, and 40% of Italian operator Fibraweb.

Asked if the company intends to continue with the acquisition strategy, Gana said, “You always have to be looking everywhere. You have to see the opportunity."

"In times of economic restriction, you have to be more cautious, but investments always have to be aligned with the needs of customers, whether in geographical expansion or in digital transformation."