In 1998 Chavez is winning his first election, we are all on the same level. By 2001 Chile is taking off. In 2004 Lula and Uribe are president, Chile is reaching European levels and Brazil is taking off while Venezuela and Colombia keep slowly improving. In 2008 the three countries have rejoined world wide Internet development status while Venezuela is still in the less than 20% penetration.
And I think that the ways things are going chavismo probably thinks that this 16-20 percent is way too high.....
Daniel - you should include Cuba in your table to indicate the absolute bottom - the direction Venezuela will ultmately be headed under the Chavez regime. I have no idea what "official" internet penetration rates are for Cuba, but whatever they report you should cut in half. Even "oficialistas" with internet access only have access to an island-wide intranet, most outside sites are blocked. But the chart is a nice summary of the difference between free market economies and excessively planned economies.
ReplyDeleteGood catch and nice maps.
ReplyDeleteYou know...two years ago or something like that several chavista officials were saying that the Internet coverage in Venezuela had gone from X (forgot what) in 1999 to Y in 2004 or so and that that was a big achievement.
They said that since they were in power Internet coverage had increased enormously.
We know how stupid their whole claims are. The sad part is that millions of ignorant Venezuelans buy into that...initially hard to believe, but that is the case. They have absolutely no framework of reference.
The opposition needs to show how Venezuela is lagging behind more and more.
Kepler
ReplyDeleteWhat the BBC compilation doe snot evaluate is the quality of service. Since CANTV has been taken over by the state Internet service has decreased greatly. Now broadband ain't that broad, and it is unstable. That is, you are connected and suddenly without any real reason, you are off the grid from a few minutes to a few hours. And this happens several times a week.
Unfortunately there is little you can do to escape CANTV: the new wireless services of Digitel and Movistar must use in part the optical cables that are owned by CANTV. When CANTV fails, they also fail in many areas. In San Felipe where I work and live CANTV does not offer broadband connection, nor is it planning to do any time soon. Thus I must rely on wireless broadband which is not broadband at all. Skype is over for me, among other things.
I thought so.
ReplyDeletePobre Venezuela
Until the only way to deliver Alo Presidente is by broadband video the internet won't be a priority in Venezuela. Brazil is way beyond everybody else in the region. I spend a lot of time in Second Life and Brazilians are everywhere (so are Germans BTW). I find almost all Spanish sims are in Spain. But, I like Flamenco so what do I know!
ReplyDeleteRoger, if he could somehow force ISPs to carry AP and all cadenas, so surfers were unable to avoid it when it fancied him, then internet would rapidly become a higher priority.
ReplyDelete