Brazilian students in their third year of elementary school and up and those enrolled in the CadÚnico social program will have access to broadband internet through a chip that will be given to each student. The benefit is part of the Internet Brazil initiative, which will be presented on Friday (17), according to Nathalia Lobo, telecommunications secretary of the Ministry of Communications, during an interview granted on Wednesday (15) to the radio program A Voz do Brasil.
The first phase will be carried out in the northeast region, and should cover the cities of Caicó and Mossoró, in the state of Río Grande del Norte; Caruaru, Campina Grande and Petrolina, in Pernambuco; and Juazeiro, in Bahia. “We are launching the project in these municipalities first as a pilot,” he said. By the end of the year, all Brazilian schools will be connected to the Internet, he added.
Lobo also mentioned another program that brings free Internet to Brazilians: Wi-Fi Brazil. The connection is offered via satellite to underserved communities where broadband does not reach. The program, reported the secretary, has so far made high-speed Internet available to users in more than 17,000 locations throughout Brazil, not only in schools but also in health centers and indigenous and quilombola communities. The connection points are located in more than 3,000 municipalities, 78% of them in rural areas.
Also on Friday, low-income families in the city of Natal, capital of Rio Grande do Norte state, will receive digital converters from the Digitaliza Brasil program, which is dedicated to migrating televisions from analog to digital signal. “The kit can be easily installed by users themselves,” she said.
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