---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 10 Oct 1997 08:51:15 -0700 (PDT) From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com> To: fight-censorship-announce@vorlon.mit.edu Subject: The Globalization of Chile, from The Netly News ************* http://cgi.pathfinder.com/netly/opinion/0,1042,1484,00.html The Netly News Network (http://netlynews.com/) October 10, 1997 The Globalization of Chile By Declan McCullagh (declan@well.com) The wires are clogged again in Chile, a country with no shortage of Net-enthusiasm but little way to express it. Bandwidth is so limited in this remote country, which stretches almost to Antarctica, that local netizens wake up early or stay up late to log in (this report had to be filed via fax). Chile's connections to the outside world total about 9 Mb/sec, the same size pipe that a small U.S. Internet provider uses to connect to the Net. Chileans intend to change this. By next summer, fiber optic cables will gird the country on the east and west, snaking south from Brazil and Peru. The country's connectivity will jump to 200 times its current bandwidth. Even now, though, there's plenty of excitement about the Net in the capital, Santiago. Apple Chile, H.P. and the Cafe Internet Cybercenter line the Avenue Andres Bello. The REUNA Internet World Conference, which ends today, attracted hundreds of local businessmen. Companies such as Business News Americas email (for a fee) daily economic reports from Chile to American investors and analysts. But even if younger Chileans are cyber-savvy, the country remains staunchly conservative. Nearly 90 percent of Chileans are Roman Catholic (it was once the state religion) and Chile remains the only Western country where both divorce and abortion are illegal. Geography, too, has an effect. The South American country is ringed by deserts to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the lofty Andes mountains to the east. [...]