The Argentine, Ramiro Lafarga, the new CEO of Wom in the country, spoke for the first time about the challenges he faces after the departure of Chris Bannister and the plans he has for an operation that already connects 714 municipalities with 4,073 4G LTE antennas nationwide. national being the most modern network in Colombia and the second in speed.

It took the company four months, from April to August 2021, to complete one million users, and nine months from the start of its operation to have speed certification by Ookla.

With an investment of more than 700 million dollars, 355 stores and kiosks, 2,400 direct jobs and more than 1,500 indirect jobs, the company that has 69,000 authorized distributors and more than 220,000 charging points throughout the country maintains its goal for 2025 of reaching 25 percent market share.

Lafarga spoke of the challenges, plans and challenges that he awaits for the sector and also for the new government in Colombia.

Read also: Follow the controversy over spam on Twitter, Elon Musk responds

What’s next with Wom?

For me it has been a privilege to join this project, I find myself with a company with a great human quality, motivated to carry out this initiative that is about having a company that promotes the democratization of telecommunications in Colombia, I find myself in a competitive market and a context of many offers and strategies, which is normal.

We also have the milestone of two million customers, which means a lot in a short time. and that shows the choice of users, which also strengthens us in the idea of ​​offering a new proposal and a new vision of what a communications service should be and of differentiating ourselves in this market so that customers can enjoy a better technology and service and that will continue to be the spirit that moves Wom.

I am very happy to be part of and join this great company.

What will the rest of 2022 focus on?

Many things are coming, we hope to continue growing, we have many things to offer on offer, in communication and in customer service, it is super important to strengthen the proposal that has brought us here and we will seek to complete the deployment of our network and also commercially.

We are going to consolidate the largest modern network infrastructure in the country, the only one completely 4G LTE in all of Colombia, the company has brought connectivity for the first time to 674 communities in remote rural areasbenefiting 450,000 people in 24 departments who have accessed mobile data and voice services with 4G technology for the first time.

Chris Bannister had the idea that by the end of 2022 Wom would have the best network in the country, will that be possible?

We are working for it, I am not here to contradict any comment or roadmap. We want to have the best possible service in the industry and today we are the ones with the most modern network, we are 100 percent 4G and we have to take advantage of that. Today we already have a differential proposal and it is about completing the coverage that we yearn for.

We have already fulfilled the commitments we had with the ministry after the 700 MHz auction.

The plan that my predecessor prepared was to prepare the company to launch it and work in the first year since the launch, we are going to continue with the plans, my objective is to give continuity to the work that began, in addition to promoting and consolidating the initiatives

You may be interested in: Chris Bannister, CEO of Wom, talks about the company’s goals

You have seen regional cases of auction and allocation of 5G, what will happen to Colombia?

5G is the natural evolution of mobile telephony, I think that pIn order to provide a good service, three elements are required: the first is the spectrum, because without that availability the service cannot be developed; the second is that there are technologies available and that is not new because it has already been developed and its price has dropped. And the third is that it is a good business because if it is not going to make sense to launch it, it means that there are clients and developers who achieve and make applications.

I see that Colombia has a lot of potential, many startups, companies that work in development and not just local. The technology is also available, but the evolution in the regulatory environment is lacking.

Once this is achieved it will be easier, but Colombia still has many steps to take in connection and in a technological environment so as not to skip stages, I think that 5G will come sooner than you think.

How have you seen the portations?

The dynamics of portability accounts for the competitiveness of the market, segments must be differentiated because what happens in prepaid and postpaid is different, there are numbers that must be better understood in order to reach stronger conclusions.

As things evolve, it will be possible to understand what is happening.

Almost two million users have changed operators so far in 2022

Will prices continue to drop?

In 2021, with the arrival of Wom, there was an evident transformation in the market: the Consumer Price Index (CPI) corresponding to the Information and Communications sector had the greatest price reduction among the different sectors of the economy with -12.1 percentwhich ultimately indicates that Colombians today can access telecommunications services at fairer prices.

Since the launch of our commercial offer in April 2021, postpaid plan prices have decreased by 52 percent and this ‘Wom Effect’ has given us an opportunity as an industry to offer good service and 4G, because the gap in the country is still very big and it can be developed since the price has to go down, there are still great opportunities, to continue innovating, bringing ideas and if prolonging the effect.

Are they already two million customers in a startup year?

Achieving that goal has been fantastic, there are very few companies that achieve it in the first year and so quickly, the number by itself fills us with satisfaction because we see the preference of users, for our option that is differentmore accessible, economical, with close attention and with a company that continues to grow and that seeks to innovate and bring more solutions to the market.

We expect more millions of customers, the DNA of our company has been maintained, we are going to continue moving the market and We can all make Colombia a much better connected place with more entrepreneurial innovation developments to increase the country’s productivity.

What do you think are the challenges that the new government will encounter?

Although this government met the connectivity goals, that must be the roadmap for the next one, there must always be a devotion to connecting Colombians more.

Another challenge is that everything related to spectrum and mobile telephony they must be at average levels in the region, because today it is one of the most expensive and that is one of the consensuses of the operators in Colombia and if we really want to connect and invest, then that must change and the government may have more ingenious solutions to lower it.

They should also help us in the deployment of networks to reduce paperwork and bureaucracies so that it is easier to implement.

There is another aspect where it has nothing to do with the government, but can promote the sharing of infrastructure and it is that in a country like Colombia many deployments are required with more than one operator and although there are initiatives that are already working in favor, there are always opportunities.

All traders have challenges and there are good strategies, but the important thing is that customers can be well connected with good service and news. Wom is prepared to continue surprising and we are going to try to bring the service closer to more Colombians and it is important that the industry looks favorably on the competition.

More news

MinTIC awarded the new contract for Digital Centers

‘Twitter does not believe in freedom of expression’: supposed employee against the network

Internet Day: this is how Colombia is connected