Colombia’s Diego Molano is the best ICT minister in Latin America, according to British consultancy firm The Business Year.
The award was handed to Molano last week by The Business Year Colombia director Michael Martinez McGough.
The Business Year praised Molano for “how, through a series of sound policies, the government has managed to grow Colombia’s 2.2 million Internet connections to more than 8.88 million as of 2014 and making the country the first in Latin America with high-speed Internet throughout its entire territory when at the beginning of the current administration’s term only about 200 municipalities were connected to high-speed Internet.”
Molano dedicated the award to “everyone who works in the ministry and its various institutions.”
Additionally, the minister said his current priority is to increase internet connectivity for the poor.
Colombia has a number of government-funded program that aims at increasing internet connectivity throughout the country.
According to the World Bank, 8 of 100 Colombians had fixed broadband connections in 2012, more than double than four years before. According to the Harvard University-supported OpenNet Initiative, Colombia has the highest internet penetration in Latin America.
Sources
- The Business Year press release
- Colombia profile (OpenNet Initiative)
- Fixed broadband subscribers in Colombia (World Bank)