Minister: Telecom 2yr plan finished by Dec.

Colombia's state-run fixed line operator Colombia Telecomunicaciones will complete its 87bn-peso (today US$31mn) two-year modernization plan in November this year, local daily La Republica quoted communications minister Marta Pinto as saying. The central theme of the plan is installation of 43,265 new or refurbished lines mainly for the benefit of isolated and poorly served municipalities. Once finished the project should benefit a population of 800,000 in 280 localities across the country, the minister said. The project was launched in 2001 and is 80% complete at present. The modernization plan has been financed by a communications fund that is fuelled by a 5% levy on long distance operators' revenues, and is divided into three basic infrastructure projects. First is installation of switching centers, secondly installation of GSM-based fixed wireless access networks (particularly in Cordoba and Sucre departments) and finally through installation of VSAT terminals in 50 isolated localities. Colombia Telecom intends to establish prepaid payment systems for these new lines and services, since they mainly serve users with low spending power, Telecom chairman Alfonso Gomez said.