Broadband
This exploratory study, carried out by Funredes and EsLaRed, analyses the use of the Universal Service Fund (FSU-Fondo de Servicio Universal) in Venezuela. Since 2001 the FSU has financed access points in different areas as well as infrastructure and access networks for communities and government agencies. The study indicates that only 30% of the funding has been allocated and that, of this sum, more than 80% has gone to support social programmes benefiting the government and not the communi...
The objective of this action was to include civil society’s perspective on the right to communication in Ecuador’s new communications law. This law, which should be approved in 2009, comes out of the Andean country’s new constitution. Civil society actively participated in the constitutional process and was successful in incorporating aspects related to the right to communication. The proposal from civil society aims to establish the communication, telecommunication, media sectors and ...
This document studies the case of the Telecommunications Investment Fund (FITEL), the Peruvian government agency that provides universal access to telecommunications in rural areas, privileging social concerns. The fund’s development during its 15 years in existence has meant going from mere infrastructure availability to projects implemented from a socio-technical perspective, where, in addi...
The policy of opening public ICT access centres that operate within educational institutions presents an opportunity to expand access to broadband infrastructure, as observed by Olpa Paz, Mauricio Escobar and Paula Ospina. In addition to the promotion of public access to ICTs, Colombia is also witnessing a growing trend towards the bundling of internet, cable television and fixed telephony ser...
The Andean region has some of the lowest fixed telephone line, mobile telephony and broadband penetration rates of all Latin America, the continent with the starkest economic disparities in the world. In the 90s, Andean countries adopted new liberalisation and privatisation policies in order to attain universal access. Almost 20 years later, these promises have not been fulfilled. APC studied e...
Colnodo, Colombia’s AndinaTIC member, analysed the role of the country’s Communications Fund. The institution is part of the Ministry of Communications and administers the funds transferred by the various telecommunications companies operating in Colombia. It currently finances postal and social telephony programmes as well as ICT expansion to reach persons of limited income. Specifically ...
Researcher Jorge Bossio poses the questions: Can you imagine a day when there are two kinds of internet networks, one open and public and the other closed and exclusive, similar to free-to-air television channels and cable television channels? Can you imagine only being able to access certain websites or online applications by paying extra for a specific internet access service, like the &ldquo...
In the early 21st century, fixed-line telephony was pushed into the background by the advent of mobile telephony, which is now being challenged by internet protocol (IP) communications, observe Guillermo Mastrini and Carolina Aguerre. This raises the need for policies for the development of broadband in Latin America to promote the economic and social progress of the region’s countries and th...
Ysabel Briceño observes that the long distance that most internet traffic must travel outside the region before returning back to the region is a problem that affects both the quality and cost of communications services in the countries of South America, including Venezuela. As a result of this, she notes, the creation of NAPs has emerged as a solution to avoid routing local internet traffic ...
In his analysis, Hugo Carrión reflects on the political and economic context in which universal access funds emerged in the Andean Region and their evolution as mechanisms for achieving the objectives of universality in telecommunications. He also reflects on the current role of the state regarding provision of public services and reviews the situation in Andean countries. Carrión concludes...
Association for Progressive Communications (APC) 2022
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