Responsible Management Report 2020
Regulatory agenda of the Communications Regulation Commission – CRC
During 2020, the Communications Regulation Commission continued to study and analyze Claro’s dominance in the mobile services market (voice and data plans). In light of the health and economic, social and ecological emergency declared in Colombia due to COVID-19 and responding to the guidelines of the decree laws issued by the Colombian Government, the regulator suspended the terms of specific administrative actions from April 3 to July 21, 2020. Subsequently, the regulator resumed specific administrative action and continued to review the evidence, requesting additional information from some operators, and it declared a court order for evidence in November 2020 to resolve some documentary evidence contributed in the proceeding. However, at January 2021, no decision had been made in this proceeding on Claro’s dominance.
A study by the Universidad de los Andes funded by Movistar was launched in August. This was widely reported in the Colombian media. In the document called “Impacto de la concentración del mercado móvil en Colombia sobre la Competitividad” [Impact of the Concentration of the Colombian Mobile Market on Competitiveness], through econometric techniques, the researchers verified that digitalization has a positive and significant, statistical relationship with competitiveness in the dimensions of size of the market, and the sophistication of businesses and innovation. It also found that a close relationship exists between the degree of competition in mobile telecommunications of countries and their level of competitiveness, and that this statistical relationship has an impact on the economies’ degree of digitalization. Therefore, it calls for the need for clear game rules in mobile telecommunications that ensure effective competition in Colombia.
In January 2020, the CRC responded to the call of Law 1978/2019 (Art. 19) and amended the conditions for access, use and remuneration for the use of the electricity sector’s infrastructure in the rollout of telecommunications networks. It established aspects including limits for support in pylons (broken down by height and electricity system) and ducts (broken down by amount of cables), decreasing the tariffs up to 74% from the previous ones.
The pandemic challenged the paradigms of telecommunications and exposed Colombia’s challenges in connectivity, but above all, it put the regulator’s capacity to the test to respond to this situation. The CRC has actively responded since March 2020, promoting regulatory flexibility in spheres such as digitalization in response to isolation and mobility restriction measures in order to ensure the users’ interaction and
the exercise of their rights and duties, reviewing the uploads of information reports and establishing measures to adapt to the quality measurements with special monitoring, aiming to ensure the continuous and efficient provision of telecommunications services and respect for the network’s neutrality.
Therefore, between March and April 2020, the CRC presented three packages of sectoral measures to combat the declared State of Emergency. The following measures stand out: suspension of service obligations in physical offices; amendment of opening hours for customer service lines; prohibition of charging default interest during the emergency period; flexibility of service using traditional media, such as telephone lines; promotion of the exclusive use of digital channels for transactions that can be made from start to finish through these channels; and authorization to send bills and answers to complaints, queries and requests through predominantly digital media, and only under exceptional cases, the use of physical media for this. All these provisions made it possible to guarantee protection of users’ rights.
In addition to the above, it sought to make flexible, simplify and level out the workloads of telecommunications services, for example, with the suspension of the measurement, calculation and reporting of PING, HTTP and FTP indicators, as well as the uptime and quality indicators of satellite TV and IPTV broadcasts for a specific period. Similarly, conditions were established to manage traffic and prioritize government websites (health, education and fundamental rights), and the management of traffic was permitted with the aim to prevent downgrades of the network and reporting processes in light of a very high and recurrent increase in traffic.
The pandemic challenged the paradigms of telecommunications and exposed Colombia’s challenges in connectivity, but above all, it put the regulator’s capacity to the test to respond to this situation.
With the extension of the period of the declared State of Emergency, the CRC extended the term of the majority of the temporary measures taken during the pandemic through CRC Resolutions 5991 and 6058 of 2019. It also issued CRC Circular 129 of June 5, 2020, which establishes the format for temporarily reporting 3G mobile internet quality indicators from June to September 2020 and also determines the possibility of establishing alternative methodologies to field measurement to establish the mobile internet indicator based on user experience.
As part of the regulatory activities, on January 16, 2020, the CRC published the draft review of Resolution 5107/2017 for consultation which includes the description of the problem, with the aim to conduct the analysis of the regulatory impact. The commission posed two problems: the regulated value of calls in the RAN does not reflect the market conditions; and the retail data tariff is below the regulated RAN tariff. Subsequently, the CRC proposed alternatives to change the remuneration of the RAN in calls and data at the regulated price, and the sphere of application.
Regarding the mobile internet quality indicators, the CRC started to review this regulation, and in the first phase, it amended the measurement methodology, increasing the margin
It also grants an opportunity for self-regulation in information and eliminates the obligation to respond to procedures and inquiries using traditional media (physical offices and call centers), and as a principle, it includes the freedom to adopt digital transactions 100%.
of error through the issue of CRC Resolution 6064/2019, with a range of 10% of hours lacking in the remote monitoring probes.
The commission made its inquiry known, which establishes measures to digitalize the User Protection System and permits the digitalization of 100% of information procedures, inquiries and obligations, having to previously inform the user of the situation and interactively explaining how the digital procedures are carried out. It also grants an opportunity for self-regulation in information and eliminates the obligation to respond to procedures and inquiries using traditional media (physical offices and call centers), and as a principle, it includes the freedom to adopt digital transactions 100%. It also permits that queries, complaints and requests (including resources) are handled exclusively using digital channels, always previously informing the user. The response can be sent only through these virtual media without requiring authorization from the user and always with prior communication
Additionally, this entity made known a Sector Observatory proposal to monitor public and private investment, which it published together with a study that establishes the definition of investment in telecommunications that this commission intends to adopt, the sources of information that will be used for its construction, and the determining factors of said investment.
The CRC published its project for locating children, because in accordance with Law 1989/2019, it must regulate the conditions of a national alert that enables the location of missing children. To do this, it has to conduct a study and issue the regulation within 18 months following the issue of the law. This term expires in January 2021. The project proposed by the regulator includes that the Colombian Government must establish an authority to add alerts. As of the moment it is carried out and reported, the telecommunications service providers (TSPs) and internet service providers (ISPs) have six months to adapt the network. Participation in this system consists of the TSPs and ISPs implementing a cell broadcast system to send geographically distributed SMS messages under defined technical parameters.
The CRC published its project for locating children, because in accordance with Law 1989/2019, it must regulate the conditions of a national alert that enables the location of missing children.
In turn, it made its OTT media service study public, which reviews the use of online apps and the consumption of content and communication services. It is highlighted that: i) OTT media services continue to supplement subscription TV; ii) there is no “cord-cutting”, because only 2.2% of OTT media service users canceled their TVPS; and iii) there is
a positive relationship between the number of messages via OTT media services, spending on devices and the expense of the monthly mobile plan.
Other topics reviewed by the regulator include the publication of a public inquiry, which intends to assess the different obligations of regular reporting that the TSPs and ISPs must meet to support the draft regulation to amend the information reporting system.
Finally, the commission published the Infrastructure Rollout Favorability Index in the capital cities. The results of this first index show the situation in barriers to installation that obstruct the expansion and improvement of the coverage of ICT services. Out of
the 2020-2023 development plans of the studied cities, 47% promotes the rollout of infrastructure and making ICT accessible to all; 40% only promotes making ICT accessible to all and 12.5% does not consider action.
The commission published the Infrastructure Rollout Favorability Index in the capital cities. The results of this first index show the situation in barriers to installation that obstruct the expansion and improvement of the coverage of ICT services.
Regulatory agenda of the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MinICT)
During the declaration of the health, economic and environmental emergency declared by the Colombian Government, the MinICT and Presidency of Colombia issued decree laws for the ICT sector.
Decrees 464 and 555 of 2020 established telecommunications as an essential public service, so the provision of the services, installation and maintenance of the networks must be guaranteed by both the government and the industry. Additionally, measures are established to mitigate the COVID-19 crisis for the ICT sector, which include a vital minimum for prepay and postpay users; no charging of default interest; the suspension of payment of fees for general activation and permits to use the spectrum; a payment schedule with three additional months to pay the debt; more flexible quality measures; and free browsing in URLs established by the Colombian Government; as well as the free consumption of data services in the “Colombia Aprende” (Colombia Learns) portal of the Ministry of Education for cellphone plans costing less than COP 71,000 (USD 17.7). Similarly, the CRC was given powers to define the way in which users’ access to health content, public sector websites, work activities, education and exercise of fundamental rights would be prioritized.
Meanwhile, through Decree 540 of April 13, 2020, a special procedure was established for licenses for the construction, installation, alteration and operation of equipment for the provision of telecommunications services. Consequently, the requests must be answered by the authority within the ten days following their submission. If this term passes without an answer, the license is granted to the requesting
party. Additionally, the services of connection and access to telephone and mobile internet services up to two tax value units (UVTs, for the Spanish original, COP 71,000 – USD 17.7) will be VAT exempt for four months.
In the same line of measures to respond to the health emergency, the MinICT launched Plan Prevenir Conectados, which benefited 5 million mobile lines with a minimum service of 1 gigabyte (GB) of browsing and 100 minutes free for prepay users that download and register in the CoronApp Colombia application, supported with resources from the Single ICT Fund. The ministry decided to use direct hiring and sign contracts with cellphone operators.
In other activities, after a conversation process with the industry, the MinICT reduced the remuneration that the TSPs and ISPs have to pay quarterly, adopting the legal guidelines to modernize the sector. Therefore, with the issue of MinICT Resolution 903/2020, as of July 1, 1.9% not 2.2% is applied to gross income for the payment of remuneration for providing internet and telecommunications services.
The MinICT launched Plan Prevenir Conectados, which benefited 5 million mobile lines with a minimum service of 1 gigabyte (GB) of browsing and 100 minutes free for prepay users that download and register in the CoronApp Colombia application.
In other aspects, the ministry published the policy document that contains the “Plan for the Transition to New Technologies”, which establishes ten lines of action to upgrade the mobile ecosystem in Colombia between 2020 and 2022.
For management of the spectrum, the MinICT published a call for tender for the development of pilot 5G projects in Colombia through Resolution 638 of April 1, 2020, with which the Company developed pilot 5G projects to prevent and counteract the effects of COVID-19 in partnership with the Bogotá D.C. Secretary of Health.
Similarly, the ministry invited companies to express interest in future spectrum auctions through Resolution 1322 of July 27 for bandwidths 700 MHz, 1900 MHz, 2500 MHz, and 3500 MHz for 5G. This publication is a requirement to be able to launch future auction processes, with which it analyzes whether there is interest in all the bandwidths or in some, and on which dates the interested parties need to access the spectrum.
In line with the actions of the spectrum, the MinICT published Resolution 1075/2020, establishing the conditions, requirements and procedure to grant or amend permits for use of the radio spectrum though the objective selection process. This resolution makes the objective selection processes more flexible, it eliminates the basic application forms (of networks and equipment) and it determines that the annexes that need to be completed will be established in each resolution where each objective selection process is opened. Additionally, it reduces the term for issuing the permit for use of the spectrum from six to three months counted from the last date that applications can be submitted.
In other aspects, the ministry published the policy document that contains the “Plan for the Transition to New Technologies”, which establishes ten lines of action to upgrade the mobile ecosystem in Colombia between 2020 and 2022. Before 2022, 3.5 GHz will be assigned and the remainder in 700, 1900 and 2500 MHz. It is highlighted, that the road map establishes the coordination with the Ministry of Finance and the National Tax and Customs Administration (DIAN, for the Spanish original) to reduce the tax burdens on importation and sale of ETM 4G until a price limit, and the development of a proposal to eliminate tax burdens on mobile broadband internet in plans of less than 2 UVTs, as well making regulation more flexible to facilitate the zoned disassembly of 2G networks depending on network indicators, provided that the conditions of substitutability are met, at no detriment to the coverage.
In the digital strategy driven by the Colombian Government and established in the policy guidelines of the National Development Plan to include the digital transformation component in the action plans of public entities, the MinICT published the Digital Transformation Framework, which aims to improve the State-citizen relationship and leverage the digitalization of the State and the use of emerging technologies. In this way, the processes, products and services are altered to ensure the public creation of value.
In this line, the ministry published a guide for the implementation of Blockchain in the public sector, which aims to raise the entities’ awareness of the technical concepts of this technology, together with policy recommendations to be able to carry out projects that involve it. All the initiatives and strategies of the Ministry of ICT were set out in the ICT Plan 2018-2022, which groups the initiatives in four lines: ICT Environment for Digital Development; Sectoral and Territorial Transformation; Social Digital and Citizen Inclusion; and Empowered Homes of the Digital Environment.
Furthermore, to attend to the provisions of Law 1978/2019, the MinICT issued Decree 825/2020, which on the one hand, regulated the fulfillment of obligations as a payment method for the use of the radio spectrum, and on
All the initiatives and strategies of the Ministry of ICT were set out in the ICT Plan 2018-2022, which groups the initiatives in four lines: ICT Environment for Digital Development; Sectoral and Territorial Transformation; Social Digital and Citizen Inclusion; and Empowered Homes of the Digital Environment.
the other, established the criteria for the formation, presentation, authorization and quantification of the investment and verification of projects that can be implemented. Similarly, with MinICT Resolution 2715/2020, the methodology, procedure and requirements were established for the submission of the projects; the definition of the types and cost through a price list; the terms and offices for approval; and verification process of the investment, with rules on the recognition of OPEX and CAPEX for their execution, including technical
and financial landmarks that shall be partially verified according to the project’s implementation schedule
As part of the oversight and control powers, the MinICT published a proposal to amend the preventive policy, as well as a draft strategy to improve the provision of mobile services in Colombia. In the inquiry to amend the preventive ICT policy, the aim of the authority was for the overseen entities to avoid possible violations and penalties, and to have access to inquiry tools for compliance with their obligations, so they can take preventive or corrective actions with verification visits or remotely, as well as the use of technological tools so that the MinICT can have legal, administrative, technical, financial and risk information on the companies in time. In the strategy to improve services, the authority identified the need to achieve 32 million internet connections with downloads at more than 10 megabits per second (Mbps), aligned with the National Development Plan. It also proposed lines of action to achieve this target with an analysis of FBB costs and the implementation of an app for citizen access with information on the amount of base stations per inhabitant. Said application would be connected to a system of measurement of electromagnetic fields of the National Spectrum Agency (ANE, for the Spanish original), which enables the identification of barriers for the rollout and the strengthening of the
The MinICT and ANE published Spectrum Policy Document 2021-2024, set out in Resolution 2759/2019, which aims to modernize management of the spectrum to support digital transformation.
oversight and control model to migrate to a predictive model based on Big Data. Additionally, the obligations of the TSPs and ISPs would be updated with this to establish a manager of managers (OSS) and user perception surveys hired by a third party paid by the TSPs and ISPs, generating greater loads for those managed without an impact analysis and without proving the access tools that it currently has available to exercise its oversight and control functions.
The MinICT and ANE published Spectrum Policy Document 2021-2024, set out in Resolution 2759/2019, which aims to modernize management of the spectrum to support digital transformation with five lines of action: (i) maintain processes adapted to the legal framework, (ii) apply data analytics, (iii) plan the long-term spectrum with approach of markets, services and applications, (iv) implement flexible mechanisms of access to the spectrum and innovation, and (v) manage knowledge. This also includes the review of the conditions for the transfer and renewal of the spectrum to develop in 2021, as well as establishing new spectrum limits. Likewise, it includes completing the spectrum database with: (i) a diagnostic that compares the information with the spectrum permits (3Q21); (ii) the technical and legal process if the tables of technical specifications need to be adjusted (4Q21); and (iii) the loading of the database with information on free and shared use of the spectrum (4Q23).
It also includes the Transition to New Technologies Plan and its activities: (i) studies on reverse auctions as support to implement the obligations to carry out (between 2021 and 2022); (ii) content and disclosure strategies for territorial and citizen bodies on the rollout of infrastructure, elimination of barriers and not affecting health with the infrastructure of mobile networks
(continuous activity from 2020 to 2022); and (iii) the sending of a joint circular by the MinICT, ANE and Ministry of Health for local authorities, facilitating the elimination of barriers to the rollout of telecommunications infrastructure.
Regulatory agenda of the National Spectrum Agency (ANE)
Within the actions to mitigate the health, economic and environmental emergency, the ANE extended the terms for information reporting by the TSPs, ISPs and National Penitentiary and Prison Institute (INPEC, for the Spanish original). With ANE Resolution 141/2020, the obligations of measurement of electromagnetic fields in Resolution 774/2018 were extended during the emergency and for three more months. This suspended the submission of calculations, installation of notices and completion of measurements that had to be submitted during said lapse of time.
Meanwhile, the ANE published an inquiry about the free spectrum for smart consumption meters, with an analysis of the regulatory impact in which the limitations in the free use spectrum regulation are posed as a problem for the implementation of smart consumption metering systems, indicating causes including that the free spectrum is shared with multiple applications, because the UHF frequency bandwidth of free use offers limited coverage for AMI systems, also taking into account the targets of the amount of meters rolled out, established by the Ministry of Mines and Energy.
Subsequently, the inquiry to update the National Table for Attribution of Frequency Bandwidths was published, in which the bandwidth plan is amended from 440 MHz to 470 MHz. Some segments would be used for private networks and could not provide services to third parties, and the frequency bandwidth of 450 MHz is reserved (between 452.5 and 457.5 MHz, 462.5 and 467.5 MHz) for the future operations of International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT). Additionally, the updates of the IT Radio Regulations 2020 are included.
Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (SIC, for the Spanish original)
Through Resolution 19012 of April 21, 2020, the SIC ordered for the users to be informed about the regulations issued due to COVID-19, particularly those established in Decrees 464 and 555 of 2020 regarding rules for the provision and suspension of services in the postpay and prepay categories.
Similarly, it ordered for them to be informed of the suspension of the obligation to attend in physical offices, the amendment of the hours of telephone service, the electronic channels provided for notification, and the prohibition of charging default interest.
With ANE Resolution 141/2020, the obligations of measurement of electromagnetic fields in Resolution 774/2018 were extended during the emergency and for three more months.