Monday, June 22, 2020

Chile renews debate on the Internet as a public service with the pandemic

Senator Juan Pablo Letelier, of the Socialist Party, presented during a virtual discussion organized by the Argentine Chamber of Deputies about the inequalities in coverage and quality evidenced in recent months, and their impact on the legislative discussion. Cybersecurity is strengthening as another parallel debate, not only for the protection of personal data, but in view of the China-United States conflict.

In recent months, the Chilean telecommunications industry has been able to adapt to telework, distance education, and agreements with content providers. However, the Covid-19 pandemic revealed inequalities in coverage and quality of three types: users who stopped contracting due to lack of income; geographical areas with service failures due to less availability of services; and digital illiteracy. The senator for the Chilean Socialist Party Juan Pablo Letelier - in turn, president of the Transport and Telecommunications Commission - explained that the country is in its first steps of discussion about the Internet as a public service, in a context in which “they demonstrated the problems in coverage and quality, because the industry tends to provide services where it can skim, and neglects quality in lower-income areas," he said.

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