Connectivity Providers Database

Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2000 18:06:52 -0600 From: Florencio I. Utreras <futreras@reuna.cl> To: sghuter@nsrc.org Subject: Re: The Internet in Chile > 1) What is the total international bandwidth to Chile at this time ? It must be well over 155 Mbps. The main access providers are: 1) Telefonica/Terra (CTC) 2) EntelInternet 3) FirstCom (ATT) > 2) Could you provide an estimate of the total number of Internet users > in Chile ? My actual guess is 1.000.000, 650.000 in 290.000 dial-up accounts 350.000 in 1.200 leased line contracts > 3) What is the cost of a 64kbps leased line IP connection in Chile these > days ? Including the local loop you can pays as cheap as U$ 180. > 4) How available is Internet access in secondary cities and rural > areas ? In secondary cities is very bad since providers have not really created national backbones. Telefonica (CTC) has recently opened access in several cities and that will change soon but until now a leased circuit in those cities was served from Santiago at a higher price of course. In rural cities prices are very high since the only real alternative are VSAT's :-( > 5) What are the prospects for Internet growth in Chile ? What would > help it develop further ? What the main obstacles that need to be > addressed ? My impression is that several projects under development (Telefonica, ATT, etc) will push the number of users to 3.000.000 this year, but after that the gowth should be slow again because we need to reach people who cannot buy a PC or small companies in the same situation. We really need access devices cheaper than a PC. Something related to TV's and coming wireless should help. Also we need more investement on international links, since it is very expensive to access the main backbones (US$ 45.000 for a 2Mbps direct link to the US!!) Best regards, Florencio