Colombia debates bill to create single communications regulator

Colombia's ICT minister (Mintic) David Luna has introduced a bill to congress to create a single regulator to oversee telecoms, TV and radio services.

The initiative proposes to merge the communications regulator CRCwith the national television authority ANTV to create a single national communications regulatory authority (ANRN).

"Today, communications are convergent for which reason we need a convergent regulator, not two or three as is the case today," Luna was reported as saying by newspaper El Tiempo.

"What this bill proposes is for a single regulator so that the processing and issuing of concessions licenses is much faster."

The new regulator would have five board members, designated for periods of six years that do not coincide with presidential terms and without the possibility of re-election.

Two of the commissioners would be designated by the President and the other three would be chosen by local universities.

If approved, Mintic would continue to be in charge of public policy, while the regulator would draw up regulation.

The national spectrum agency ANE would continue to oversee spectrum policy and the consumer protection agency SIC would also remain intact. The logic of maintaining the ANE separate from the new regulator was questioned by communications expert Ricardo Galán.

The bill must pass four debates in the upper and lower houses before being ratified by the President.

TV regulator ANTV is currently seeking to change the way that different TV operators pay taxes to the state in order to level the playing field between cable and satellite pay TV operators and internet-based players like Netflix.

Mintic is seeking to tender the 700MHz band in 2018 and seeks to raise existing caps for holding low spectrum in bands to 45MHz from 30MHz and to 90MHz from 85MHz in high bands.