Colombia. Colombia is going through a decisive moment in the development of its telecommunications. As it grows, it has the great challenge of providing a service that meets the needs of the market and puts an end to interruptions, congestion and areas of low coverage, which are the main headaches of this sector.
According to the recent Quarterly ICT Bulletin of the Ministry of ICT, during the first quarter of 2025 the country reached 9.34 million fixed Internet accesses, with 235,000 additional connections compared to the previous year.
In terms of mobile telephony, more than 49.1 million accesses were made, equivalent to 92% of the population, and this was consolidated with 92.5 million active lines and a penetration of 174%.
Meanwhile, 4G continues to dominate with 83% of connections, with 5G expanding; it already represents 9.6%, with more than 2.5 million new accesses in the last year.
It can be said that with these figures from the MinTIC, the country is moving towards more robust and demanding connectivity, but for Colombians, the stability of the network is the main indicator of satisfaction, and the problems still persist. So how quickly are telcos adapting to respond to this advancement in customer service?
As explained by the experts at EPAM Systems Inc., artificial intelligence is an indispensable complement to this industry. Many companies are moving from being telcos to techcos, and that brings benefits that the company's experts point out from their experience as allies in the technological transformation of the country.
With artificial intelligence, all these situations can be anticipated through predictive analytics, dynamically adjusting network resources. Advanced models help operators deploy additional bandwidth when there is high demand. In addition, they help manage traffic in real time and reduce the number of drops in calls or data.
Technologies such as software-defined networking and network functions virtualization are powering this shift from a reactive to a predictive model.
Another of the great weaknesses of this sector is customer service. Delays, little understanding and lack of resolution of queries is the most frequent complaint of Colombians. But with advanced chatbots and natural language models, this can be a thing of the past.
Chatbots are no longer pre-designed menus that are limited to answering basic queries. Today, they are able to maintain fluid, personalized dialogues that are available at any time
With them, users can solve problems immediately, while human agents focus on more complex situations. The result is a more agile and effective service, which improves customer perception and reduces operating costs for companies.
In addition to the fact that AI can optimize the existing service, it can contribute to innovating the operators' portfolio. AI analyzes usage patterns that lead to the creation of personalized offers: cybersecurity, smart home integrations, educational solutions, gaming, etc.
When generative and advanced analytics models are incorporated, you can anticipate the needs of users, give them differentiated experiences, and also diversify revenue streams, which is very important in such a competitive market.
The telecommunications industry in Colombia faces the challenge of balancing operational efficiency, constant innovation and growing user expectations. Operators must seriously think about optimizing networks to anticipate demand, transforming customer service into a constant dialogue and designing tailored services are essential steps for operators to stay relevant in the digital age.
As EPAM Systems Inc. points out, the evolution to an AI-powered telco model is a future that happens in the present and makes the difference between those who lead the next stage of connectivity and those who are left behind.
