Internet in Brazil
Encyclopedia
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
was launched in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
in 1988, when the National Research Network (RNP), was formed by the academic communities
Academia
Academia is the community of students and scholars engaged in higher education and research.-Etymology:The word comes from the akademeia in ancient Greece. Outside the city walls of Athens, the gymnasium was made famous by Plato as a center of learning...
of Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
and São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
. Since its beginnings, including at its introduction to the general public, in 1995, the Brazilian Internet depended strongly on efforts led by the Federal Government
Federal government of Brazil
The Federal government of Brazil is the national central government of the Federative Republic of Brazil established by the Federal Constitution to share sovereignty over the national territory with the other federating units – the states, the Federal District and the municipalities.Brazil is a...
, namely via the Ministry of Communications and the state-owned communications company Embratel
Embratel
Embratel - Empresa Brasileira de Telecomunicações S.A. is a second major Brazilian telecommunications company headquartered in Rio de Janeiro. The company was the long distance arm of Telebras until it was bought by the U.S. company MCI Communications for 2.65 billion reais during the 1998...
and its holding
Holding company
A holding company is a company or firm that owns other companies' outstanding stock. It usually refers to a company which does not produce goods or services itself; rather, its purpose is to own shares of other companies. Holding companies allow the reduction of risk for the owners and can allow...
, Telebras
Telebrás
Telebrás was the Brazilian state-owned monopoly telephone system. It was broken up in July 1998 into twelve separate companies, nicknamed the 'Baby Bras' companies, that were auctioned to private bidders...
.
This changed in 1998, as a result of the privatization
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
of Telebras
Telebrás
Telebrás was the Brazilian state-owned monopoly telephone system. It was broken up in July 1998 into twelve separate companies, nicknamed the 'Baby Bras' companies, that were auctioned to private bidders...
, and the blossoming of private groups, such as Telefónica
Telefónica
Telefónica, S.A. is a Spanish broadband and telecommunications provider in Europe and Latin America. Operating globally, it is the third largest provider in the world...
, Telemar
Telemar
Oi , formerly known as Telemar, but still legally called Telemar Norte Leste S.A., is the largest telecommunications telephone company in Brazil and the second largest telco in Latin America, behind Mexican América Móvil part of Telmex, considering both lines in service and revenues. It is...
and Brasil Telecom
Brasil Telecom
Brasil Telecom S.A. is a major Brazilian telecommunications company headquartered in the Brazilian capital Brasilia. The company is one of three land lines, one long distance and eight mobile telephone companies in Brazil that emerged from the break-up of Telebrás...
. With the surge of competition for customers, coupled with government-imposed requirements, came improvements in cost, quality and availability of the Internet to Brazilians. Currently, there are about 67 million internet users in Brazil. With the world's fifth-largest population overall, this puts Brazil also with the fifth-largest contingent of internet users.
ADSL was successful in Brazil during beta testing, and became popular in 2000, with the main ISPs being Telefonica (Speedy), Brasil Telecom (Turbo), NET (Virtua) and Telemar (Velox), with typical speeds of around 256 kbit/s down and 128 kbit/s up. Speeds are now between 300 kbit/s and 2 Mbit/s, but speeds over 5 Mbit/s are becoming more common now as their prices are getting lower. Broadband access is split between ADSL, cablemodem, satellite and radio (publicized as 'radio internet', but it is actually a CDMA2000
CDMA2000
CDMA2000 is a family of 3G mobile technology standards, which use CDMA channel access, to send voice, data, and signaling data between mobile phones and cell sites. The set of standards includes: CDMA2000 1X, CDMA2000 EV-DO Rev. 0, CDMA2000 EV-DO Rev. A, and CDMA2000 EV-DO Rev. B...
1xEV-DO hardware solution), with the first WiFi
WIFI
WIFI is a radio station broadcasting a brokered format. Licensed to Florence, New Jersey, USA, the station is currently operated by Florence Broadcasting Partners, LLC.This station was previously owned by Real Life Broadcasting...
services appearing in 2004.
During the 2000s, limited availabity of high-speed internet in Brazil was a major problem, especially in rural regions. Accordingly, the Brazilian government pressured providers to broaden supply in outlying areas. As of 2010, broadband is available in 88% of Brazilian cities, surpassing all expectations for its expansion. The Ministry of Education
Ministry of Education (Brazil)
The Ministry of Education , MEC, is a Brazilian government ministry.Functions of this ministry: national education policy, early childhood education, elementary education, secondary education, higher education, youth and adult education, among other teachings Taking their proper decisions so that...
has also devised a plan to connect 86% of all public schools to the Internet, with a broadband connection, by 2010.
The Internet is a popular medium for citizen–government interaction. For example, 99% of all income tax
Income tax
An income tax is a tax levied on the income of individuals or businesses . Various income tax systems exist, with varying degrees of tax incidence. Income taxation can be progressive, proportional, or regressive. When the tax is levied on the income of companies, it is often called a corporate...
forms are delivered online. Correios
Correios
Empresa Brasileira de Correios e Telégrafos , also known as Correios, is one of the largest state-owned companies in latin america and is responsible for the national postal service of Brazil, with a high level of reliability in Brazil...
agencies and government-controlled telepontos are used as access points, and are specially relevant in remote locations. LAN centers, known by the anglicised
Anglicism
An Anglicism, as most often defined, is a word borrowed from English into another language. "Anglicism" also describes English syntax, grammar, meaning, and structure used in another language with varying degrees of corruption.-Anglicisms in Chinese:...
name LAN House, are common and widespread throughout the country.
Brazilian websites take the .br
.br
.br is the Internet country code top-level domain for Brazil. It was administered by the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee until 2005 when it started being administered by Brazilian Network Information Center . A local contact is required for any registration...
code, which is overseen by the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee. Some of the most popular websites are web portal
Web portal
A web portal or links page is a web site that functions as a point of access to information in the World Wide Web. A portal presents information from diverse sources in a unified way....
s, such as Globo.com, UOL
Universo Online
UOL once known as Universo Online, is a Brazilian online service provider and internet service provider. It is the leader in Latin America and the homepage portal is the biggest in the Portuguese speaking world.UOL is currently ranked at Alexa TOP 100...
and iG
IG
IG, Ig, or ig may mean:Biology:*Immunoglobulin*Immature granulocytePlaces:*Ig, a town and a municipality in Slovenia*IG postcode area, a group of postcode districts around Ilford, EnglandTerms:...
; search engines, including Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
and Yahoo; and social network service
Social network service
A social networking service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on building and reflecting of social networks or social relations among people, who, for example, share interests and/or activities. A social network service consists of a representation of each user , his/her social...
s, the most important of which, by far, is Orkut
Orkut
Orkut is a social networking website that is owned and operated by Google Inc. The service is designed to help users meet new and old friends and maintain existing relationships...
. MSN Messenger, the most popular IM service, has Brazilians as its largest userbase. Due to the popularity of virtual communications, Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
referred to Brazil as the "Schmooze Nation".
ISP Controversy
The Internet access companies push for a distinction between an "Internet Content Provider", which provides e-mail accounts and other peripheral services (Terra Networks is an example of Internet Content Provider), and "Physical Connection Provider", which provides the actual physical, connection to the Internet (TelefónicaTelefónica
Telefónica, S.A. is a Spanish broadband and telecommunications provider in Europe and Latin America. Operating globally, it is the third largest provider in the world...
is an example of a "Physical Connection Provider"). Therefore, the role of providing the access by an ISP in Brazil is fulfilled by the physical connection providers, while contracts with "access" providers, who just serve to provide e-mail accounts, are typically forced upon the consumers. There is still a controversy on whether it is mandatory to sign a contract with an "Internet Access Provider" or not, this being subject of several judicial disputes and lawsuits.
Wireless LAN
Wireless LAN
A wireless local area network links two or more devices using some wireless distribution method , and usually providing a connection through an access point to the wider internet. This gives users the mobility to move around within a local coverage area and still be connected to the network...
ISPs are becoming more common in the interior of the country. In big cities some WiFi
WIFI
WIFI is a radio station broadcasting a brokered format. Licensed to Florence, New Jersey, USA, the station is currently operated by Florence Broadcasting Partners, LLC.This station was previously owned by Real Life Broadcasting...
hotspots are also available.
As of November 2005, some cable companies started to offer 2, 4 and 8 Mbit/s access (without the need of an ISP
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
to connect, but still required under the contract and by law) for the same price as 512 kbit/s ADSL connections.
The lack of sufficient infrastructure for the Telefônica (Speedy) ISP in 2009 has led to failure of service in certain areas during periods. This incurred in its sales being prohibited in 2009 by ANATEL, and remaining so until it goes through a process of major expansion and rejuvenation.
See also
- .br.br.br is the Internet country code top-level domain for Brazil. It was administered by the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee until 2005 when it started being administered by Brazilian Network Information Center . A local contact is required for any registration...
- Brazilian Internet PhenomenonBrazilian Internet PhenomenonThe Brazilian Internet Phenomenon is a term used to describe the massive adoption by Brazilians of an Internet service exceeding the number of members of the original nationality of the service. A possible reason for this is shown on a recently an IBOPE/NetRatings study that revealed that they...
- List of countries by number of Internet users