By Chip Strange, Chief Strategy Officer at Ookla

To strengthen connectivity in Colombia and promote development in the territories, especially in rural and remote areas, the ICT Ministry, the European Union (EU) and CAF, Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean, have signed a Cooperation Agreement to allocate nearly USD 20 billion to leverage financing from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and CAF to support the country's National Connectivity Plan. 

Dubbed its most powerful Lifecycle Service Orchestration (LSO) API release to date, MEF’s ninth LSO API release solves (for the first time) complex addressing and operational challenges, including observability. Additionally, this release introduces a suite of advancements designed to enhance service provider and enterprise adoption of standardized, open ecosystem automation for Network-as-a-Service (NaaS) offerings.

An artificial intelligence model designed to understand the multicultural identity of Latin America is set to launch in mid-2025, according to the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence of Chile (CENIA).

Arielle Roth was nominated by President Donald Trump to lead the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, NTIA oversees the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program, which provides $42.45 billion to expand high-speed internet access across the U.S. and its territories.

NTT DATA, a global digital business and IT services leader, has officially appointed Sudhir Chaturvedi as Global Chief Growth Officer and North America Chief Executive Officer.

Peru’s Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC) and RedCLARA have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen the digital ecosystem and encourage innovation in Latin America and the Caribbean. 

The Federal Communications Commission has withdrawn its notice of proposed rulemaking for a potential ban on bulk billing agreements for broadband services in housing.

The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit to block Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s deal to acquire Juniper Networks, a nod to the networking status quo that boosts market leader Cisco and “weakens” competition in the networking market.

In an era where seamless communication drives how we live, work, and innovate, recognizing achievements in telecommunications is essential for advancing progress. The Crowdsourced Awards by Weplan Analytics is a prestigious annual recognition that honors the industry’s top-performing connectivity companies and services.