BritCham Chile Positions Connectivity as Critical Infrastructure for National Resilience and Economic Development
April 22 ,2026
April 22 ,2026
Santiago, Chile – 23 April 2026
The Technological, Innovation and Sciences Committee of the British Chilean Chamber of Commerce convened a high-level session titled “Connectivity, Territorial Gap and Resilience: Critical Infrastructure for Chile’s Development”, bringing together industry leaders to address a structural challenge that is rapidly moving up the national agenda: ensuring that connectivity evolves from a service into a core pillar of critical infrastructure.
Held at the British Embassy in Santiago, the event explored how digital connectivity underpins productivity, social inclusion and crisis response in a country highly exposed to natural hazards.
The discussion featured Andrey Luján, Enterprise Sales at Amazon Web Services, and Sergio Rubio, Customer Support Manager at Motorola Solutions.
Chile has made significant progress in connectivity, reaching close to 90% nationwide coverage. However, speakers emphasised that the remaining gap—concentrated in rural and remote areas—continues to limit access to opportunities and services.
“The challenge is not only reaching 100% coverage, but ensuring that connectivity is reliable, resilient and truly enables people to participate in the digital economy,” said Andrey Luján.
Panellists agreed that the digital divide is no longer just about access, but about quality, stability and the ability to scale knowledge and productivity across territories.
A critical point of consensus was the vulnerability of existing infrastructure when facing natural disasters such as earthquakes, wildfires and extreme weather conditions.
“Connectivity exists, but when conditions become critical, that is when we realise how much more resilient our systems need to be,” noted Sergio Rubio.
The discussion highlighted the importance of designing systems with redundancy, distributed architectures and hybrid solutions that integrate terrestrial, cloud and satellite technologies.
“You must build assuming everything will fail at some point. That is the only way to ensure continuity,” added Andrey Luján.
International benchmarks—particularly from the United Kingdom and Europe—demonstrate that connectivity is increasingly treated as a strategic asset within national infrastructure planning.
“Connectivity should be considered at the same level as energy, water or transport. Without it, there is no operational continuity,” the panel concluded.
Chile’s growing ecosystem of data centres, digital infrastructure and regulatory frameworks was recognised as a strong foundation, though speakers stressed the need for greater coordination and long-term planning.
The session underscored that addressing connectivity challenges requires a coordinated approach:
“The public sector must create the conditions, but the private sector must take the lead in investment and innovation,” stated Andrey Luján.
At the same time, the role of the State in crisis coordination remains a critical gap:
“We still need clearer leadership and coordination when systems are under stress—especially in emergency scenarios,” added Sergio Rubio.
Beyond infrastructure, the conversation pointed to an emerging challenge: the growing gap in digital capabilities and talent.
“Technology will continue to evolve, but the real difference will be human capabilities—how we adapt, learn and collaborate,” emphasised Andrey Luján.
The session closed with a strong and unified message:
Chile does not simply need more connectivity—it needs connectivity that is resilient, inclusive and strategically designed.
As a leading bilateral platform, Cámara Chileno-Británica de Comercio reaffirmed its commitment to fostering dialogue, sharing international best practices and strengthening collaboration between Chile and the United Kingdom in the development of future-ready infrastructure.
The activity was organised by Joanna Pérez, Chair of the Committee; Gustavo Vieira, Global CIO of CMPC and Vice-Chair of the Committee; and Francisco Medina, CEO of GTQ and Technical Secretary of the Committee.
