1. +
The Internet in Brazil
Origins and Governance
Peter T. Knight
ptknight@braudel.org.br
INET São Paulo
28 November 2014
2. +
Summary
! The First Steps: 1973-1989
! Rise of the Academic Internet
! Birth of the RNP
! Connecting the RNP to the Internet
! The First ISPs
! The Creation of CGI.br
! Privatization of Telecommunications and the Commercial Internet
! Development of the Brazilian Internet
! The National Broadband Program (PNBL)
! Expansion of the RNP and State Broadband Networks
! The Internet Bill of Rights and NETmundial (covered in other talks)
! Lessons from the Brazilian Experience
3. +
The first steps: 1973-1989
" 1975 Vint Cerf and Keith Uncapher demonstrate ARPANET at
the First Latin American Seminar on Data Communication
during 7th National Conference on Data Processing, São Paulo
" 1975 Telebras: Latin American Computer Network (Rede
Latina-Americana de Computadores – REDLAC) Research on
packet switching centered in CPqD (Campinas) and USP
" 1975-1979 PND II (Geisel Government) and Creation of the
Special Secretariat for Informatics (SEI) in 1979, control of
trans-border data flows
" 1980-1989: Protocol Wars – OSI (Open Systems
Interconnection) developed International Organization of
Standards (ISO) 1981-1984 vs TCP/IP (1973,Vint Cerf &
Robert Kahn) – SEI supports OSI
4. + Rise of the Academic Internet
and the RNP
" 1973-1978 Southern Teleprocessing Network (RST) Liane
Tarouco (UFRGS), contact with Leonard Kleinrock, attempt to
connect to ARPANET (too costly)
" 1979 National Computer Network Laboratory (LARC), virtual
organization, established; UFRJ and PUC-Rio especially active
" 1982 PUC-Rio begins work on packet switch in joint project
with Telebras, Embratel, and USP called REDPUC; courses on
computer networking
" 1984 Rio Network project created, but fails to get off ground
" October 1987 2-day meeting at USP organized by Paulo
Aguiar (UFRJ & LARC) and Michael Stanton (PUC-Rio), with
support from CNPq: 38 academic researchers, government
representatives (including SEI), and Embratel
5. + Rise of the Academic Internet (2)
" November1986 Michael Stanton, Paulo Aguiar, and Alexandre
Grojsgold participate in the 6th International Networking
Workshop at Princeton University: extensive contacts with
international academic networking community
" 1988-1989 LNCC, FAPESP, and UFRJ separately establish network
links with three different US institutions using BITNET. Approved
by SEI and Embratel April 1988 no TCP/IP, no links between the
3 Brazilian institutions (contrary to Brazilian legislation)
" 1989 FAPESP working group led by Demi Getschko creates the
Academic Network at São Paulo (ANSP) linking 5 institutions
using a single ANSP. shared international link. LNCC and FAPESP
gets authorization to link institutions outside Rio-São Paulo axis
" 1990 UFMG, linked to LNCC in Rio, establishes BITNET link with
USP in April and LNCC links with UFRJ in November, uniting the
3 “islands” of connectivity of in the Brazilian BITNET
7. +
Birth of the RNP
" October 1987 The National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq)
convenes supports a meeting at USP coordinated by Paulo Aguiar (UFRJ & LARC) and Michael
Stanton (PUC-Rio), sowing the seeds for what became the RNP
" Mid-1988 A working group linked with the Ministry of Science and Technology is established,
coordinated by Tadao Takahashi, then of CNPq, to create the RNP project
" September1989 RNP project launched at a the National Informatics Conference in São Paulo
by the federal Special Secretary for Science and Technology, Décio Leal Zagottis.
" 1990 Tadao Takahashi becomes head Coordinator of RNP and recruits Demi Getschko
(operations) and Michael Stanton (R&D)
" 1990-1991 The protocol wars continue, with SEI defending the use of OSI, and academic
networkers seeking to implement deploy TCP/IP to be able to connect to the international
Internet.
" March 1991 Getschko and Stanton spend 3 weeks in the US representing RNP, participating in
a meetings of the IETF and visiting networking research institutions organizations and
universities
" November 1991 Progressive dismantling of the National Informatics Policy under the Collor
government culminates in Law 8248 eliminating the market reserve policy for computers,
peripherals, and telecom equipment and weakening of opposition to the use of TCP/IP.
" 1991 RNP, with support of Ivan Moura Campos (named CNPq Director of Special Programs),
mobilizes political and economic support for building the RNP backbone.
9. +
Connecting the RNP to the
Internet
" 1987 Carlos Afonso, who returned to Brazil from political exile in 1979,
launches Alternex, a network of Brazilian NGOs
" May 1990 At an Amsterdam conference, Alternex and NGOs from six
other countries form the Association for Progressive Computing (APC),
following the lead of the Institute for Global Communications (IGC)
" 1990 Afonso, mobilizing support from UNDP, FINEP, and international
NGOs, establishes the first non-academic link to the Internet between
Alternex and IGC (IGC, located in the US, had a gateway to the
Internet).
" June 1992 Alternex, after difficult and complex negotiations (and
supported by Takahashi in the RNP, the United Nations, and the new
Rede Rio academic network), links RNP to the Internet using an two
Embratel links (1 from Rio, the other from São Paulo) during the United
Nations Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED)
a.k.a. Rio-92 and Eco-92.
10. +
Brazilian ISPs Multiply
" After UNCED Rio-92, Alternex continued its collaboration with
Rede Rio and became the first Brazilian non-academic ISP.
" Alternex’s use of Rede Rio’s connectivity at no cost resulted in
polemics, since Alternex charged some customers to cover
costs, seen as “commercial” activity on the academic network.
" Alternex, even before UNCED Rio-92, had begun a program to
help Brazilian BBSs (Bulletin Board Systems) become ISPs.
" More than 150 BBSs eventually made the transition, but this
resulted in Rede Rio cutting Alternex’s link to the Internet.
" RNP continued to provide Internet access for Alternex from its
Rio PoP using FAPESP’s international link to the Internet.
" By 2014 there were some 8,000 Brazilian ISPs, of which about
4,000 have formal licenses to operate.
" The large number of small and medium ISPs is one of the
distinguishing characteristics of the Internet in Brazil.
11. +
Privatization and Development
of the Commercial Internet
" Commercial use of the Internet in Brazil began only in 1995,
after a pilot trial by Embratel in December 1994.
" President Fernando Henrique Cardoso took office in January
1995, determined to end state monopoly of telecommunications.
" Norm 004-1995 defined Internet access as a value-added
service over which there would be no monopoly, allowing small
ISPs like those incubated by Alternex to grow.
" The General Telecommunications Law of 16 July 1997 created
Anatel.Together with a constitutional amendment passed in
October 1995, this ended the state monopoly telecom and set
stage for a competitive telecom market.
" Privatization was carried out in 1998.
12. +
National Broadband Program
(PNBL)
" The “Green Book” on the Information Society in Brazil, prepared
in 1990 by a team led by Tadao Takahashi in the MCT, was the
only attempt to develop a national ICT4D strategy, but it was
never developed or implemented.
" The PNBL is the first serious attempt to implement a national
broadband policy and program other than the academic
Internet (RNP), but does not embody a broad ICT4D strategy.
" Presidential Decree 7.175 of 12 May 2010 created the PNBL.
" Telebras was reactivated as the principal instrument for
executing the PNBL, against resistance by private telcos.
" Telebras funding has been limited.
" Most development of Telebras backbone through public-public
and public-private partnerships for sharing or leasing fiber.
17. + RNP’s Community Networks Project
(Redecomep) and the Veredas Novas (New
Paths) Project
" Fiber optic rings in all 26 state capitals plus the Federal District
(Brasília) and other cities of significant interest, e.g. housing a
federal institution of higher education
" Partnerships for sharing fiber with state governments, electric
power distributors, Petrobras,Telebras, metros, toll road
operators, and other non-academic entities able to provide
rights of way, ducts, fiber connections, etc.
" Expansion under way to research and higher education
institutions in the interior of states under Veredas Novas (a joint
project of the MCTI, MEC, MC and Telebras, as well as
commercial operators)
" Access to backbone at interior PoPs for ISPs offering PNBL
prices for entry level broadband Internet Access (1 mbps down,
128 kbps up)
21. +
State Broadband Networks
" Beginning with the states of Pará and Ceará, several Brazilian
states have or are planning to build their own hybrid fiber/
wireless broadband networks
" Objectives:
" Serve government entities in all municipalities of the state
" Dramatically reduce costs of broadband service to state and
municipal governments
" Promote digital inclusion of the population
" Cover current costs to state ICT companies through leasing dark fiber
" Important characteristics:
" Build substantially greater capacity (fibers in cable) than needed for
government use
" partnerships with RNP, electric power distribution companies, other
owners of fiber, and telcos (private and Telebras)
" Ceara’s Digital Beltway (Cinturão Digital) as model – innovative
new auction for leasing dark fiber to telcos: 8 December 2014
23. +
The Brazilian Internet Steering
Committee (CGI.br)
" Created anby Inter-ministerial ordinance 31 May 1995, amended
by Presidential Decree 3 September 2003
" Brazilian Network Information Center (NIC.br) created in
December 2005 to serve as executive arm of CGI.br
" Mandate: Coordinate and integrate all Internet service initiatives
in Brazil, promote technical q1uality, innovation, and
dissemination of available Internet services
" Multistakeholder institution:
" 9 representatives of Federal Government
" 4 representatives of the corporate sector
" 4 representatives of civil society (called “third sector” in Brazil)
" 3 representatives of the scientific and technological community
" 1 Internet expert
25. + Lessons from Brazil’s
Experience
" Lack of a national ICT4D/eTransformation strategy has reduced the
speed of digital inclusion, the quality of Internet service, and access to
benefits of Internet access (eGovernment, eLearning, eCommerce, etc.).
" There is a need for
" dynamic leadership, prioritization and inter-ministerial coordination from the
top of government to reap economies of scale and inter-sectorial synergies
" A public-private strategic communication program to build consensus on
ICT4D objectives to encourage a strong bottom-up mobilization and
participation to implement the strategy.
" Current federal and state tax policies run contrary to digital inclusion
objectives, and may even reduce revenue.
" Public-Public and Public-Private partnerships are critical for rapid
expansion of broadband infrastructure.
" Brazil’s multistakeholder Internet governance model is worthy of
adoption or adaptation by other countries.
