The delegation that accompanied President Guillermo Lasso to Buenos Aires included his Foreign Minister, Juan Carlos Holguín, and his Ministers of Telecommunications, Information Society, Vianna Maino, and of Production, Foreign Trade, Investments and Fisheries, Julio José Prado Lucio -Paredes; in addition to the Ecuadorian ambassador to Argentina, Xavier Monge Yoder.

At a high point on the Ecuadorian presidential agenda, Maino spoke with Clarín about one of the aspects that Lasso’s administration cares about most: Telecommunications.

What did they find in Ecuador in terms of telecommunications when they sat in power?

A lot of things to do. An important challenge. And we see it as well as something technical, which is probably initially how it is seen in the telecommunications area, as something deeply social. We understand that it is a basic service for each other’s daily life, as a major axis for social development, which is what I said earlier on the subject of sections of the country, the geographical area that still needs to be connected. We must first move forward on the issue of connectivity for people who are not geographically connected, and then move forward in those areas towards a digital culture to reach the digital change we seek.

Do these social differences arise on the question of differences in Ecuador’s geography, coastline and mountains?

Of course, it is certain that the issue of geography is a great element that has caused these variations because the localities that still need to be associated are the specific ones that are most isolated, which are marginal or have a geographical distance that is difficult, added to the coast is the Amazon mountains, which are forests. So of course, going there costs more and you have other alternatives that are probably not the clearest in terms of connectivity, which is satellite, which is most used in that geography.

And what is the purpose of the matters from here to the end of the government?

We should be fully connected to 4G, we should have started 5G, 92% of the population should be connected. That’s the goal I’ve offered the president to meet with ever since, because with the right signals and openness to investing, and channeling it correctly, it should be natural. Technology and telecommunications are, ultimately, an information market, and the most flowing today is the digital world and communications, so with the right rules, the dynamism of the sector will get you there if you manage it properly.