The keynote speaker opened the forum with the story of a blackout across the Iberian Peninsula. The outage, which left cities without power, communications or internet access for up to 18 hours, highlighted the existential dependency societies now have on digital networks. He argued that the debate needed to move beyond connectivity in terms of ‘megas’ and pricing and instead treat telecommunications as critical national infrastructure – a society’s central nervous system.
He noted that while Latin America often boasts high coverage statistics, real challenges persist in usability, trust, affordability and equitable access. Investment conditions vary drastically across regions and growing consumption pressures are not matched by rising revenues or streamlined regulatory frameworks. This paradox is eroding margins and risking long-term viability. He championed strategic collaboration, smarter regulation based on trust rather than control, and investments that reflect the transformative potential of AI, cloud computing and rural fibre deployment.
Digital divide
The opening panel of the forum focused on the urgent challenge of closing the digital divide across the region. Despite notable gains in infrastructure coverage – 94 per cent of Latin America now has mobile broadband access – millions remain effectively offline due to issues of affordability, usability and relevance.
A panellist from an advocacy group emphasised that while infrastructure has expanded significantly in recent years, a persistent usage gap remains, with 28 per cent of people still not utilising available digital services. She identified four key barriers: affordability of devices and services; digital skills; cybersecurity and trust; and the availability of culturally and linguistically relevant content.
A speaker representing a telecoms regulatory body supported this view, noting that usage disparities persist, especially in rural communities and among people with disabilities. He highlighted targeted universal service initiatives, such as subsidised mobile phones and national Wi-Fi rollouts.
In the final discussion, panellists agreed that regulation alone cannot drive inclusion. Instead, they advocated for trust-based collaboration between government, industry, academia and civil society. Voluntary partnerships, tailored local solutions and sustained political will were seen as essential ingredients for long-term success. The panel concluded that digital inclusion must be grounded in human needs, recognising the internet not as a luxury, but as a right and an enabler of health, education, economic participation and cultural identity.
Investment and funding
This discussion examined the economic, regulatory, and institutional conditions necessary to accelerate digital infrastructure deployment across Latin America and the Caribbean.
A panellist from an industry body opened by stressing the direct link between market profitability and infrastructure investment. He warned against misinterpreting the number of operators as a sign of market competitiveness, noting that over-fragmentation can weaken the sector’s financial resilience.
Another speaker noted that, while Latin America has drawn from European regulatory traditions, the region is now developing its own approaches. Successful outcomes, he noted, often hinge on coherent market consolidation and well-capitalised operators rather than on sheer competition. He warned of Europe’s tendency towards overregulation in the digital sector, advocating instead for pragmatic, innovation-friendly policies, particularly in the face of emergent technologies such as AI and 5G.
One panellist critiqued states that both regulate and compete in the market, arguing that this dual role often distorts competition and deters private investment. He stressed the importance of coherent legal frameworks and regionally harmonised policies to reduce business complexity, especially for smaller markets that struggle to attract large-scale private investment. The panel concluded with a call for regulatory reform. As digital infrastructure extends beyond traditional telecoms, encompassing data centres, submarine cables and edge computing, speakers urged a shift from rigid sectoral regulation to a more adaptive, ecosystem-wide approach.
Regulatory evolution
The panel on digital regulation explored the appropriateness of adopting global regulatory models, particularly the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) and Digital Services Act (DSA), in the regional context. The discussion reflected growing scepticism towards rigid international regulatory transfers and underscored the urgency for Latin America to craft its own digital governance models.
Opening the discussion, one panellist cautioned against the wholesale import of European regulatory models, such as the DMA, into Latin America. He highlighted the region’s distinctive economic and technological realities, warning that prescriptive and rigid regulatory approaches risk stifling local innovation, especially among micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and startups. Overly burdensome rules, such as mandatory interoperability or extensive compliance requirements, could inhibit local entrepreneurship and disincentivise investment.
Comparing outdated telecoms-era ex-ante frameworks to an over-painted canvas that now requires sculptural precision, another speaker underscored the need for regulatory modernisation by removing rather than adding rules. She cited deregulation trends in the US and regulatory simplification efforts in Brazil and Colombia as examples of forward-thinking approaches.
The next speaker expanded on this by stressing the difficulty of defining ‘digital markets’ in an era where digitalisation permeates all sectors. He warned that sweeping regulations may have unintended consequences, favouring large incumbents who can absorb compliance costs, while marginalising nascent firms.
In closing, speakers agreed that Latin America’s regulatory path must prioritise adaptability, competitiveness and development goals. Rather than mirroring Europe’s model, they advocated for collaborative, evidence-based frameworks.
Audiovisual strategy
This session examined the interplay between creative industry development, public policy and the role of regulation in fostering a dynamic audiovisual ecosystem. The debate highlighted how locally anchored production models, investment incentives and policy frameworks can stimulate cultural and economic growth in the region.
The first speaker explained his company’s partner-managed production model, involving collaborations with local production companies across Latin America. He outlined three pillars for audiovisual growth—developing local talent, enabling film-friendly environments through public policy (e.g. permits and connectivity) and building efficient production ecosystems.
In Colombia, explained one speaker, a film fund (cash rebates) and certificate scheme (tax credits), have together catalysed over $750 million in production-related investment.
In Chile initiatives have included cash rebates for productions outside the capital, venture capital funds (e.g. Screen Capital) and public-private research centres focused on emerging technologies such as AR, VR and AI. The speaker highlighted the importance of treating the creative industries as engines of growth, with projects structured over 10-year horizons to weather political cycles and ensure policy stability.
The panel reflected on the growing influence of user-generated content and the rising consumption of short-form video. While these formats pose challenges to traditional production models, they also present opportunities for innovation and greater audience reach.
Infrastructure deep dive
This session centred on infrastructure, policy and regulatory decision-making to advance digital connectivity and affordability. It began with a speaker highlighting the need for policies that encourage infrastructure sharing and innovation, supported by enabling, modern regulatory frameworks. With 94 per cent mobile coverage in the region but 84 per cent of traffic reliant on fixed networks, rural and economically marginalised areas remain hardest to serve.
One panellist described how low earth orbit (LEO) satellites can deliver connectivity more cost-effectively than fibre, especially in remote geographies. He suggested that there were potential savings of €26 billion for EU governments pursuing gigabit goals and underscored LEO’s rapid deployment capabilities, affordability and resilience, particularly through innovations such as satellite-to-satellite laser links.
The next speaker reinforced the importance of leveraging all available technologies, including satellite, 4G/5G, Wi-Fi and community networks, to achieve national connectivity goals. He argued that the primary barriers now lie not in technology but in regulation, spectrum accessibility and market conditions.
Artificial intelligence
This panel brought together perspectives from global technology firms, intergovernmental bodies, and national policymakers to explore the evolving landscape of AI development, its strategic implications and the role of regulation in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The first speaker underscored that AI is deeply embedded in the evolution of telecommunications, having powered network optimisation since the early days of mobile networks. AI, she stressed, is not new but now increasingly central to public policy agendas, raising questions of ethics, data governance, and infrastructure readiness.
The next speaker outlined the role of AI in cybersecurity. He described three key areas: AI-enhanced cybersecurity tools, security for AI systems themselves and the rising threat of malicious actors exploiting AI. He stressed the need for integrated regional approaches that align AI strategies with cybersecurity policies, supported by capacity-building, risk assessments and collaborative frameworks such as CSIRTAmericas. Without such alignment, the region could face a growing asymmetry between attackers and defenders in cyberspace.
A speaker illustrated how AI is being used to combat telecoms fraud, citing a pilot that used AI to detect scam calls in real time. However, regulatory barriers forced the product’s withdrawal, highlighting the tension between innovation and privacy regulations.
Another panellist outlined the EU’s comprehensive AI strategy, which balances investment, innovation and risk management. Beyond the recently adopted AI Act, the EU is investing €200 billion in AI infrastructure and talent, supporting industrial applications in the health and climate sectors. The bloc is working closely with Latin American and Caribbean countries through a Digital Alliance that fosters collaboration in AI and data and supercomputing access, he said.
Internet governance
This session focused on the conceptual underpinnings of digital governance and the practical dynamics of stakeholder dialogue in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The first presenter traced the origins of internet governance to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in 2003 and 2005. It produced a multistakeholder model in which governments, civil society, the private sector and the technical community share responsibility for managing the principles, standards and protocols that underpin the internet.
This requires that logical and physical infrastructures must be globally coordinated for the internet to function. The speaker warned against misdirected regulation at these foundational levels when addressing problems that originate at the content layer.
In the panel discussion, one speaker described telecommunications as burdened by an ‘original sin’; it emerged from regulated utilities and thus remains tightly controlled. She warned that the current ROI for infrastructure operators is declining, creating a crisis in funding next-generation networks.
The next speaker took a more cautious stance, advocating for voluntary, multistakeholder agreements rather than new regulatory frameworks. She emphasised that the problem lies not in connectivity – coverage now reaches over 90 per cent – but in affordability and usability.
Cybersecurity
The cybersecurity panel provided a sobering overview of the evolving threat landscape. The session underscored the scale, complexity and human impact of cyber threats while advocating for multilateral cooperation, strategic investment and inclusive policy frameworks.
One speaker outlined his organisation’s role in strengthening cybersecurity across the western hemisphere through capacity-building, policy support and cyber diplomacy. It had supported over 60 per cent of national cybersecurity strategy development processes in the region and coordinates the Secured Americas Network, comprising 52 national incident response teams and more than 500 experts.
A panellist from a large tech company drew on data from their 78 trillion daily cybersecurity signals. He reported a sharp rise in state-sponsored attacks, with Russia, China and Iran leading the activity. Technology, education, and government are the top targets. He stressed the critical role of identity protection, noting that 99 per cent of attacks begin with a compromised password.
The next speaker cited an average breach remediation cost of $2.4 million globally, rising to $9.36 million in the US, and warned that 68 per cent of security breaches are linked to human error.
Online safety
The final session of the forum focused on the multifaceted issue of online safety, examining how policymakers, regulators, and industry leaders are working to protect vulnerable populations from digital harms.
One panellist outlined national efforts to enhance cybersecurity in Botswana. She described initiatives including targeted digital literacy campaigns for elders and youth, and collaboration between different arms of government to address child online safety. Elderly users, especially pensioners, are frequent targets of scams, while children face grooming and trafficking threats via online platforms. Public awareness roadshows, device restrictions, and training-of-trainers programmes in schools have been rolled out to counteract these issues.
Throughout the discussion, panellists reiterated that online safety is a shared responsibility. Education emerged as a recurring theme, with digital literacy programmes being implemented from kindergarten to senior citizens. Participants called for increased investment in user awareness, legal frameworks that support innovation without infringing on rights, and international cooperation to combat transnational cyber threats.
The IIC Caribbean and Latin America Digital Communications and Media Forum was sponsored by Apple and Liberty Latin America.
This report was drafted using ChatGPT
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