Universalization of broadband internet access in Brazil: analysis of the current situation and the federal government's National Broadband Plan

• Grant number: 11/18920-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: January 01, 2012
• End date: December 31, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Geography - Human Geography
• Principal Investigator: Ricardo Abid Castillo
• Grantee: Melissa Maria Veloso Steda
• Host Institution: Instituto de Geociências (IG). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This research project aims to conduct an undergraduate research study of the topology of infrastructure and services of broadband Internet access in Brazil, due mainly to the proposal of the National Broadband Plan (PNBL) by the federal government, in 2009. It is intended to evaluate the objectives of PNBL and the circumstances in which it is being implemented. Taking the Internet access as an item of citizenship in the current period, it is possible to interpret it from the conceptual pairs spatial mobility and accessibility; connectivity and virtuality, in order to analyze the territorial coverage and the social range of broadband Internet access in Brazil, as well as the main agents responsible for the spread of the service in the country - notably, the federal government and companies in the telecommunications industry. It is considered that the expansion of access to information, through telecommunications networks, is an important element of social inclusion in Brazil, to the extent that the spatial diffusion of connectivity can be an element of reducing social, economic and geographical inequalities. (AU)