Home / Publications / What you need to know about TMC in Colombia today

What you need to know about TMC in Colombia today

This seems like a transformative year for tech industry in Colombia, which has become an interesting target for big funding groups and international organizations such as the SoftBank and World Economic Forum. Here some news that announce transformation and new developments in Colombia’s TMC industry:

Venture capital and support to entrepreneurship developments:

  • Japanese SoftBank Group announced, earlier this year, that it will invest USD$5000 million in start-ups in Latin America. The first company to receive funding was Colombian start-up unicorn Rappi (USD$1000 million). The Group is looking for other unicorns within the region, focused on sectors such as: mobility, insurance sector, medical and financial services, in order to invest capital on them.
  • ICT Ministry and Ministry for Culture opened the campaign “Crea Digital 2019” which will support projects in the fields of videogame development (USD $216,121 approx.), transmedia content (USD $92,623 approx.) and digital animated series (USD $308,745 approx.). The call is directed to Colombian MSME, non-profit organizations and national universities.
  • Bancóldex announced the first “Funding of Fundings” to support TMC related start-ups. The entity will raise USD$30 million funds from several state entities to invest as a venture capital on funds that have invested on promising tech start-ups.
  • Mercado Libre and Mayma launched “Emprender con impacto”, an initiative that offers formation programs, online acceleration and marketing support to projects with social, economic and environmental impact.

A new wave of telecommunication investments:

  • ICT Ministry just published the final tender documents for the Sustainable Universal Access Project, which pretend to connect 1000 rural areas in the country. The documents labeled under the number FTIC-LP-02-2019 can be reviewed on the webpage of “Colombia Compra Eficiente” (Colombia’s Public Purchase Authority). It is expected that the second stage of this project, which pretends to connect 10.000 rural areas, will be tendered on H1 of 2020.
  • ICT Ministry launched the action plan for the assignment of 700 MHz and 1900 MHz bands. The public bidding will open at the end of this year. 

To keep an eye on…

The National Government has announced through the High Counsellor for Digital Transformation that at the end of this year new regulation will be published regarding digital security, Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation. New rules will be enforced to regulate the good use of disruptive technology in Colombia.

Authors

Portrait ofLorenzo Villegas-Carrasquilla
Lorenzo Villegas-Carrasquilla
Partner
Bogotá
María Camila Piedrahita
Alejandra Soler