History
In 1988 the National Research Network (RNP), was formed by the academic communities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Since its beginnings, including its introduction to the general public in 1995, the Brazilian Internet depended strongly on efforts led by the Federal Government through the Ministry of Communications, the state-owned communications company Embratel and its holding, Telebras.
This changed in 1998, as a result of the privatization of Telebras, and the blossoming of private companies, such as Telefónica, Telemar and Brasil Telecom. With the surge of competition for customers, coupled with government-imposed requirements, came improvements in cost, quality, and availability of the Internet to Brazilians.
ADSL was successful in Brazil during beta testing and became popular in 2000, being offered by Telefónica (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 15 and 1 Mbit/s down and up and 35 and 3 Mbit/s down and up, but speeds over 50 and 5 Mbit/s down and up and 100 and 20 Mbit/s down and up are becoming more common as prices fall and new ISPs such as Global Village Telecom invest in VDSL2 and FTTH in the larger cities. Broadband access is split between ADSL, cable modem, satellite, VDSL, VDSL2, FTTH, and 'radio Internet' (a CDMA2000 1xEV-DO hardware solution), with the first WiFi services appearing in 2004.
During the first decade of the 21st century, limited availability 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. Wireless LAN ISPs are becoming more common in the interior of the country. In large cities some WiFi hotspots are also available.
By November 2005, some cable companies were offering 2, 4, and 8 Mbit/s access for the same price as 512 kbit/s ADSL connections.
In April 2008 the Broadband in Schools program was launched to benefit 37 million students by bringing high speed Internet access to 64,879 urban public schools by the end of 2010.
In 2009 a lack of sufficient infrastructure for the Telefônica (Speedy) ISP led to periodic service failures in some areas. Sales were suspended by the Brazilian Agency of Telecommunications (ANATEL) until a process of major infrastructure expansion and rejuvenation is completed.
In 2010, broadband Internet access was available in 88% of Brazilian cities, surpassing all expectations for its expansion.
By 2016, it is expected that the Internet will have 57% of penetration in Brazil.
Read more about this topic: Internet In Brazil
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