Colombia’s Communications Regulatory Commission (Comision de Regulacion de Comunicaciones, CRC) has relaxed a number of regulatory conditions relating to rural network rollouts, as it seeks to encourage regional ISPs to expand their services to hard-to-reach parts of the country. Via Resolution No. 6755, ISPs that serve fewer than 30,000 subscriptions and target ‘rural, remote and difficult to access areas’ are no longer obliged to follow sector guidelines relating to user service, compensation and measurement indicators, as the government seeks to incentivise companies to extend their networks beyond their existing footprints. A total of 479 ISPs that serve 1,012 municipalities are eligible for the scheme and the watchdog notes that the initiative could ultimately benefit as many as 5.8 million people.
The CRC notes that the Resolution is in accordance with Law 2108 of 2021, which declared internet access to be an essential public service in Colombia.