The Internet in Brazil: Origins, Strategy, Development, and Governance

© 2014 Peter T. Knight. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or

transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 05/01/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4918-7248-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4918-7247-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4918-7246-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014904794

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Contents

List of Figures and Tables

Figures

Tables

Glossary of Acronyms

Preface

Foreword

Chapter 1 The Strategic Importance of the Internet for Brazil’s Development

Background: Brazil in a nutshell

The Internet and the information and communications revolution

Benefits of an eTransformation strategy

Technological and economic rationale for an eTransformation strategy

Structure of the book

Chapter 2 The Origins and Institutions of the Internet in Brazil

Early Developments in the United States and Europe

Gestation and Birth of the Brazilian Internet

Protocol wars

The rise of the academic Internet

Civil society networks: Alternex

First steps of the commercial Internet and the birth of CGI.br

Brazil’s telecommunications law, privatization, institutions, and market structure

Chapter 3 Development of the Internet in Brazil

Fixed and mobile Internet use

The role of small Internet pioneers in digital inclusion

Youth, political participation and the Internet

Digital Inclusion, Telecenters, and Lanhouses

Lack of a national eTransformation strategy

The digital cities movement

Chapter 4 Speed, Cost, and Quality

Connection speed

Fixed and mobile broadband prices

Excessive Taxation

High interconnection fees

Requirements for domestic content in production and technology use

Service quality

Sales of mobile devices

Chapter 5 What Is Being Done to Improve Internet Connectivity?

The National Broadband Program

Expansion of the RNP: The Redecomep and Veredas Novas Programs

State fiber optic and wireless networks

Tax Reform

Policies and regulations

The Broadband in Schools program

Gesac connections, often to remote locations

Licensing of the 450 MHz and 2.5 GHz frequency bands

Antennas for Mobile Voice and Data Services

Regulations governing pricing of wholesale bandwidth

Regulations governing the quality of broadband service

Tax Incentives for domestic production of modems, tablets, PCs, smartphones and routers (access terminals)

Tax exemptions for PNBL infrastructure (REPNBL-Redes)

Progress is evident but much more is needed

Chapter 6 The Dark Side of the Internet

Spam and cybercrime

Privacy, surveillance and the Snowden affair

Cyberwarfare

Chapter 7 The Brazilian Model of Internet Governance

CGI.br Composition and Mandate

The Civil Rights Framework for the Internet

The drafting process and debate

Major issues in the debate

Getting to a vote

Major provisions of the MCI

The evolving international Internet governance ecosystem

NETmundial and Brazil

Chapter 8 The Future of the Internet in Brazil

Needed changes in legislation, policies and programs

Two challenges

Consensus formation

Final thoughts

References

About the Author

List of Figures and Tables

Figures

Figure 1: The Digital Universe

Figure 2: Simplified Links among Elements of an eTransformation Strategy

Figure 3: RNP Leased Line BITNET Connections in December 1991

Figure 4: RNP Network in 1992

Figure 5: The Telebras Backbone Network in 2014 as Projected in 2012

Figure 6: RNP’s Backbone Network in December 2013

Figure 7: The Veredas Novas Program Expands the RNP Backbone Network

Figure 8: Navegapará’s Fiber Optic Network in 2012

Figure 9: Ceará’s Digital Belt

Figure 10: CGI.br and NIC.br Structure

Figure 11: Layered Model of the Internet Ecosystem

Tables

Table 1: Percentage of Individuals Who Accessed the Internet, 2012

Table 2: Digital Natives in Selected Countries, 2012

Table 3: Percentage of Total Internet Users by Place of Access, 2005, 2010, and 2012

Table 4: Comparison of Brazil’s Rank with Those of Selected Countries on IDI, IDI Access Component and NRI, 2012

Table 5: Comparison of Brazil’s Connection Speeds with those of Selected Countries, 3rd Quarter 2013

Glossary of Acronyms

Preface

By Vint Cerf *

The book you are reading is an important contribution to the history of the Internet, in particular, in Brazil. There are several reasons why this is such a valuable contribution. First, Brazil has grown to become among the most prosperous and influential countries, not only in Latin America, but on the world stage. The way in which Brazil has managed the introduction of the Internet contains useful lessons for the rest of the Internet Community.

The Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br) is responsible for overseeing and aiding Internet development in the country. In order to perform its activities, the CGI.br created a non-profit civil organization, the Brazilian Network Information Center (NIC.br) that provides a range of services to the Brazilian Internet community as is illustrated in its web site, http://www.cgi.br/english/activities/index.htm, and discussed in Chapter 7 of this book.

But what is most important about CGI.br is the multistakeholder model that it has successfully implemented for the formulation, adoption and execution of policy regarding the Internet in Brazil.

*   Vint Cerf is widely known as a Father of the Internet. He was co-designer of the TCP/IP protocols that govern packet information flows and of the basic architecture of the Internet. He was a founder of the Internet Society and its first president as well as chairman of ICANN from 2000-2007. He is currently Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist of Google.

The CGI.br includes the federal government, the private sector, civil society, and the technical and academic communities. At a time when there is much tension between governments and others in the Internet community over policy, this example serves as a reminder of what is possible.

The history of the Internet in Brazil begins in the academic community, as has been common for many countries, including the United States, where the Internet was first implemented. It has expanded in scale and in access over a period of decades, heavily assisted by the development of mobile smartphones and by optical fiber networks that bring high speed and critical connectivity to the country. To this we can add the existence of Internet eXchange Points (IXPs) and multiple Internet Service Providers. All of these technologies and the businesses that make them available contribute to the vitality of the Internet in Brazil.

The high tech protectionism of the 1980s has given way to a much more vibrant and international economy and this has created an atmosphere in which entrepreneurs have thrived. The universities are turning out well-educated graduates in technical and business disciplines and these feed a growing number of new companies whose business needs create new jobs that contribute to the economy.

Over the past four years, beginning with a statement ten basic principles elaborated by CGI.br, a highly participatory debate involving all sectors of the Brazilian Internet community has taken place to develop legislation called the Civil Rights Framework for the Internet. Extensive crowdsourcing over the Internet, public hearings and seminars, and debate in Congress contributed to the drafting process. Both its content and the process by which it was elaborated are worthy of study by other countries and the international Internet community.

I hope that other chroniclers, like Peter Knight, will take the time and effort to help us understand the way in which Internet is received and nurtured in the many other countries of the world. In the meantime, I hope you will find this book as interesting as I have.

Foreword

This book expands on a more journalistic article entitled The Internet in Brazil: Poor strategy weakens progress in Braudel Papers No. 48, a publication of the Fernand Braudel Institute of World Economics in São Paulo.¹ I had to keep that article to about 8,000 words to meet space limitations. But I wanted to write a longer, more academic piece with complete documentation and references for readers interested in a deeper exploration of the subject matter.

My passion for the Internet and its enormous potential for accelerating economic, social and political development dates back to 1992 when I was leading an external training unit of the World Bank dealing with national economic management. One day John Gage, then of Sun Microsystems, walked into my office and showed me the Mosaic web browser and the World Wide Web. Later he introduced me to one of Russia’s ICT pioneers, Sasha Galitsky.