ETB to invest USD748 million over next five years

Colombian state-owned telecoms company Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Bogota (ETB) plans to spend COP1.5 trillion (USD748 million) over the next five years in wireless internet services and to lease submarine cable capacity to increase bandwidth, according to Chief Executive Rafael Orduz. ‘We are planning to invest around COP300 billion per year over the next five years basically to increase the bandwidth to supply services such as television over the Internet,’ Orduz said in a meeting with journalists. As part of that investment, ETB will spend USD30 million to start an IPTV service; the company is currently evaluating the business model and seeking a ‘strategic partner’. ETB will start providing the new service in the fourth quarter of 2008.