Broadband In Brazil: past, present, and future

Peter Knight · Flavio Feferman · Nathalia Foditsch

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About this ebook

The Internet has been a reality in Brazil for more than 20 years. Its growth has been encouraged by the government, by large telecom companies, and by small and medium Internet service providers, as well as by rapidly increasing demand. The achievements to date are clear, but almost half the population is still not participating in the digital world. Furthermore, the cost of broadband is still high and its quality should be improved so that it will be possible to take advantage of all the benefits it can bring, whether related to health, education, or even the exercise of political rights. It is necessary, therefore that the Brazilian Internet be fast, reliable, and accessible.

This book brings together 23 specialists in various areas related to broadband, specialists who wanted to discuss Brazil’s public policies and regulations as well as the progress and challenges related to expanding access to broadband Internet service. The 16 chapters also address the evolution of the country’s broadband infrastructure, including experiences of entrepreneurship and public-private partnerships. This debate is fundamental for Brazil’s technological, economic and social progress.

About the author

PETER KNIGHT is an economist specializing in the use of Information and Communication Technologies to accelerate social and economic development. He is a founding member, researcher and Board member of the Fernand Braudel Institute for World Economics in Sao Paulo and author and/or organizer of seven books on the Internet and development. He has held a variety of technical and management positions at the World Bank, Cornell University, Ford Foundation, Brookings Institution and at the Training Center for Economic Development (CENDEC) in Rio de Janeiro. He has a PhD from Stanford University and graduated from Oxford University and Dartmouth College. [e-mail]

FLAVIO FEFERMAN has been a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business, since 2008, having received the Earl F. Cheit award for excellence in teaching in 2014. He is also president of Developing Markets Group, which specializes in consulting projects in the US, Latin America and Brazil. During his 25 years of professional experience, Flavio directed several international projects focused on economic development, technology and business strategy for organizations such as the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and USTDA, as well as for corporations and NGOs. He is a graduate of Stanford and U.C. Berkeley, with advanced degrees in Economics and Business Administration. [e-mail]

NATHALIA FODITSCH (LLM/MPP) is an attorney specializing in politics and communications regulations. She was a researcher at the Center for Technology and Society (CTS) at FGV Direito Rio, a consultant for the Aspen Institute Communications Policy Program and the Special Program for Broadband of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), having also worked in the Administrative Council of Economic Defense (Cade) in Brazil. She is an Invited Professor of the course "Comparative US Brazil Legal and Judicial Systems" at the Washington College of Law. She is currently a doctoral student in Internet Governance at American University in Washington DC, sponsored by a grant from Google. [e-mail]