IT FINANCING
Summary
The
Ecuadorian government monopolizes the fixed telecommunications sector, thus the
financing of projects relies on loans provided by multi-lateral development
organizations such as the World Bank or the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB),
or government-to-government loans. These
loans assure the purchase of equipment and provision of services by firms from
the offering countries. With new
telecommunications laws and policies allowing private investment in fixed
telecommunications services, the financing structure is set to change
drastically.
Project Investments
Ecuador’s affiliations with numerous international organizations aid in the development of the telecommunications sector. The Andean Association of Telecommunication Organizations, ASETA, is currently engaged in an Internet Services project. This project aims to develop a technological platform to connect the different ISPs in the Andean community (Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela) to the NAP’s network and through the Andean digital network. The key benefit of this project is to allow transfer of data locally without utilizing international access points. The major investor in this project and additional similar projects is the United States government and private industry (Source: Tradeport)
Ecuador also plays
a key role in CITEL, division of the OAS, Organization of American States.
Ecuador represents a seat in the Permanent Executive Committee and hosted the
1998 CITEL meeting in Cuenca. Through its participation in the OAS, Ecuador also
works in conjunction with the World Bank, Inter-Development Bank (IDB) and
International Monetary Fund (IMF) to integrate investment funds into
infrastructure and telecommunications development plans (Source: OAS).
No
Ecuadorian IT firms have listed on the country’s stock exchange. The exchange
itself provides an interactive website in both Spanish and English.
Capital
offers one the opportunity to have a look at the most important companies of the
country, through the unique Ecuadorian Financial Database. It also becomes a
powerful tool to analyze, study, and monitor the performance of the Ecuadorian
companies. Perhaps IT-related companies will begin to list as the sector
expands.
This report was completed in December 2000 for the class Impacts of National Information Technology Environments on Business given by Professor Erran Carmel in the program of Management of Global Information Technology at the Kogod School of Business in Washington DC