The telecommunications company Colombia Móvil SA (Tigo) received from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Invest a standby letter of credit that works as a flexible guarantee financial instrument, for a value of 197,400 million pesos, approximately US$47.5 million, so that the company can expand and improve telecommunications in small municipalities of the country.
The idea is that the project provides mobile broadband to 915 rural areas who are currently without coverage, offering them digital connectivity and helping to close the rural-urban access gap.
According to Tigo’s accounts, some 340 municipalities in the country will go from having basic 3G broadband to 4G LTE with the company.
In this way, Tigo’s retail and corporate clients will benefit from high-speed data connectivity, which will facilitate access to digital servicessuch as eHealth, online education, teleworking and financial services.
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Teleworking is convenient for companies, but in the long term it would affect leisure, tourism and the well-being of employees.
On the other hand, IDB Invest also said that it is providing advisory services to support the digitalization of small rural and agricultural companies located in Caquetá, in the Amazon region.
In this way the rural population will improve their productivity, their conservation efforts and the sustainable use of ecosystems.
Also in this area of Colombia, there are two local community members who work in sustainable agricultural processes led by young farmers and are already receiving training on how to use digital tools to improve their service offering.
With the investment that the IDB plans to make with Tigo, this project is expected to contribute four Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the
United Nations: End of poverty (SDG 1), Decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), Industry, innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9) and Partnerships to achieve the goals (SDG 17).
