Latin America & the Caribbean

Honduran dictatorship seizes .hn domain
Honduran dictatorship seizes .hn domain 29 September 2009 APC

The Honduran Sustainable Development Network has been running Honduras' .hn domain since the 1990s and is a pioneer in providing internet services in Central America especially oriented to civil society networks. Now they have been ordered to hand over control of .hn in an arbitrary decree made by the current Honduran dictatorship. Find out more and take action.

Amy Mahan Research Fellowship Program to Assess the Impact of Public Access to ICTs
Amy Mahan Research Fellowship Program to Assess the Impact of Public Access to ICTs 29 September 2009 KAH

Dear Colleagues, We are pleased to announce the launch of the Amy Mahan Research Fellowship Program to Assess the Impact of Public Access to ICTs.

Local internet traffic in Venezuela: More efficiency or more State control?
Local internet traffic in Venezuela: More efficiency or more State control? 24 September 2009 Ysabel Briceño and AL

Gráfico del crecimiento de internetIn Latin America there is still a lack of universal access to telecommunications infrastructure in general and broadband in particuar. Some countries have chosen to develop national and local internet traffic through national access points (NAP) to keep prices down by avoiding international networks. However Venezuela has not yet taken the decision to instal...

Battle for control of the internet in Peru
Battle for control of the internet in Peru 30 July 2009 Jorge Bossio and APCNews

In Peru companies like Claro or Telefónica ignore rules and regulations when the time comes to sign the contract with the end user. Moreover, they reserve the right to block certain types of internet traffic, like voice over internet, infringing on a principle referred to as “net neutrality”. In one of our latest investigations, APC analyses this principle and illustrates it with examples...

Broadband in the Andes: Alternatives to the free-market model
Broadband in the Andes: Alternatives to the free-market model 16 July 2009

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...

ICTs and minorities: Deaf students no longer excluded from IT
ICTs and minorities: Deaf students no longer excluded from IT 16 July 2009 Lourdes Pietrosemoli

There aren’t that many options for the deaf in Venezuela, and those who do have full time employment often find it difficult to take time off for other activities like professional courses. But the Cisco Networking Academy found a way to train four men and two women who can not hear, on IT Essentials. This course, an initiative by APC member EsLaRed, was given in Venezuelan sign language and ...

Peru: Fund for the Investment in Telecommunications
Peru: Fund for the Investment in Telecommunications 09 July 2009 Laura León Kanashiro

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...

Peru: Public strategies for new technologies in rural areas
Peru: Public strategies for new technologies in rural areas 09 July 2009 Roberto Bustamante Vento y Maicu Alvarado V.

This advocacy action was carried out by CEPES, AndinaTIC member in Peru, compiling and systematizing documents on Peruvian government ICT projects. This task supplemented the organisation’s ongoing research on connectivity strategies in rural contexts. CEPES questions the governmental initiatives which tend to focus on access to infrastructure. It highlights the importance of taking the comm...

Colombia: Social appropriation: The implementation of the new Compartel telecentres
Colombia: Social appropriation: The implementation of the new Compartel telecentres 09 July 2009 Colnodo

The action consisted of approaching the decision-makers for the Colombian government’s project to supply community internet access centres in schools, through which close to 1700 new telecentres will be installed. Colnodo and the National Network of Telecentres (RNT-Red Nacional de Telecentros), members of AndinaTIC in Colombia, have been working with the government to promote models of socia...

Venezuela: Analysis of the proposal for reforming the Telecommunications, informatics and postal services law
Venezuela: Analysis of the proposal for reforming the Telecommunications, informatics and postal services law 09 July 2009 Sandra L. Benítez U., Adela Vivas y Luis Germán Rodríguez

Venezuela’s advocacy action was carried out by EsLaRed and Funredes, the country’s AndinaTIC members, and focused on analysing a proposed reform of the telecommunications, information technology and postal service law. Among other things the law would grant greater control to the government which could pave the way for content regulation. The reform was proposed by organisations closely li...

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