MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Uruguay, Chile and Costa Rica with 60% household internet penetration
The State of Broadband 2016 report, released by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean shows that 43.4% of all households in the region were connected to the Internet in 2015, nearly doubling the figure from 2010. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesInteresting. Costa Rica is probably the most developed and aligned to the U.S. in Central America and Chile is certainly the most developed country in South America. (Boy do the Chieans love their mobile phones with internet!!). Uruguay is a very small compact country to give coverage but clearly quality is still lacking.
Sep 19th, 2016 - 12:02 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@1 “Chile is certainly the most developed country in South America.”
Sep 19th, 2016 - 02:19 pm - Link - Report abuse 0So long as you don't leave the better neighbourhoods of Gran Santiago, and allow that bureaucracy takes the place of development.
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It's interesting to see how Argentine media put the spin on this topic, by proclaiming internet usage here to be ahead of everybody else in the region ( or perhaps the spin is on the part of the Mercopiss article writer):
“La Argentina, al tope de los países más conectados a Internet en la región”
”Respecto al porcentaje de uso de Internet en la población, la Argentina se ubica al tope en la región, con un 69,4 por ciento de los individuos que acceden a la Red, seguido por Uruguay con 64,6 por ciento y Chile (64,29%)......”
http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1938617-la-argentina-al-tope-de-los-paises-mas-conectados-a-internet-en-la-region
@2 Mmmm, to an extent. I have travelled the length and breadth of Chile and Argentina and both countries, like most countries, spend more in the capital cities. However, I don't think the wealth in Chile is restricted to a few barrios in Santiago and the development of infrastructure in the rural areas of Chile has taken leaps and bounds during the years I have been visiting. The best healthcare and education is largely found in the central region. But I was talking about countries as a whole and economically Chile is still the most developed and stable of South America. Not perfect but show me a country that is.
Sep 19th, 2016 - 03:45 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@3 Healthcare in Chile? When you consider the abysmally poor air quality from Santiasco southward, they certainly do need that healthcare. The air in Rancagua, Talca, Temuco, Coyhaique.... absolutely poisonous. We don't consider the Stone Age burning of wet wood and the resulting pollution levels to be evidence of development and civilisation.
Sep 19th, 2016 - 05:05 pm - Link - Report abuse 0And then there is Chile's attempt to build a simple bascule bridge -- which even the Canadians were fully capable of doing over 100 years ago - now after years and years of spectacular failure, continues to stump Chile's best and brightest.
“...the most developed and stable of South America....” is a lot like saying “....the most liberal parts of Teheran...”
@4 We get it, you don't like Chile. It doesn't change the fact that they are the most developed country in South America.
Sep 19th, 2016 - 05:39 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@5 No, you don't get it at all. I don't wear the rose-coloured lenses and I don't subscribe to the false development propaganda. Chile is bureaucratic Latin America and lacking in the culture and institutions that characterise anything more than superficial degrees of yesterday's measures of development. Having a cell phone doesn't make you developed. Many of my clients are chilenos and chileno agencies and have been for more than 15 years. In spite of occasional tiny islands of responsibility, they are too often inept and often criminally negligent. The chilenos are just as practised as the argies in shutting down the country with strikes and the like, and their considerable corruption is better disguised and less confessed. There are two shining stars for Chile. One is their willingness to build decent roadways, compared to what the neighbours practice. The other is the Pacos and despite the Lonely Planet sort of lauding that foreigners eat up they are not nearly as squeaky clean as popular propaganda would have the auslanders believe. If you want to gauge Chile's level of development and ability to deal with basic issues, take of whiff of the poisonous air in Coyhaique or Talca in August.
Sep 19th, 2016 - 06:20 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@6 Rose-coloured glasses? Nope. I don't spend my life putting down developing countries or measure them by the higher standards of developed countries. You look at everything from an entirely negative perspective. I notice that from your posts. It is not that black and white.
Sep 19th, 2016 - 07:24 pm - Link - Report abuse 0It is not my assessment of their development status. And who said owning a cellphone makes you developed? Only you mention it in those terms.
Honestly, do you think there are no areas of pollution and 'poisonous air' in developed countries? That would be very naive.
Why so down on Chile? It is not without problems, I know that, but with an open mind you would see that is true of just about every country. Why pick on Chile? Jealousy?
@7 Elaine
Sep 19th, 2016 - 08:59 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Yes, you have the measure of poor Marti.
He and tobi are two sides to the same coin: One is and Argie who has complete contempt for the Anglo world while the other is an Anglo living in Argentina who has contempt for everything about Latin America.
The both appear to suffer a superiority complex.
@8 .... except Martí is not anglo..... Merely having studied in an Engrish-speaking country does not make one “anglo,” nor does having merely lived and worked in a better part of Singapore make one Gweilo.
Sep 19th, 2016 - 10:32 pm - Link - Report abuse 04
Sep 19th, 2016 - 10:50 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Mr. Llaszo,
“We don't consider the Stone Age burning of wet wood and the resulting pollution levels to be evidence of development and civilisation.”
Who is “we”?
For some reason, and perhaps it's just your good English and slang, I had the impression you were a North American living and working in Argentina.
Not that it matters, but I hear the other Argentine posters on here being very condescending towards the Chileans.
The
@10 The further you get from the CL-AR frontiers, the more openly the disdain is expressed (chilenos and argentos despising one another).
Sep 20th, 2016 - 01:13 am - Link - Report abuse 0Here in the far south, it is less open and at times there is even cooperation at times. (Néstor Kirchner's mother was chilena). If you might be amused, see the film “Mi Mejor Enemigo” as it deals with the traditional good will that existed between the two sides until this was challenged by the Casi Guerra of 1977-78.
Actually for many years there were not even fences between CL and AR down here and people and livestock came and went without benefit of formalities.
That is, until Perón. Perón closed the frontiers and inculcated a hatred of the chilenos to a degree never before known in Argentina. (In a way, the chilenos deserved their reputation since they were famous as cattle thieves - a reputation that justifiably continues to this day). That animosity festered in the Argentine culture until its most overt expression in 1978, in that infamous Casi Guerra.
It was then that Argentina, in a prelude to its invasion of the Falkands in 1982, put on its Mussolini mask and imperialistic garlands in preparing to invade Chile and seize Chilean territory in the Beagle Channel region. Those minefields you still see in southern Chile? Placed there to deal with an then-imminent threat of invasion by Argentina in 1978. I see those minefields every time I drive down to the shops in Punta Arenas. (It's because of the argies that there are minefields in the Falklands, and it's because of the argies that there are minefields in Chile : coincidence? )
Chile, in a demonstration that turnabout is fair dinkum, quietly assisted the UK in its humiliating defeat of the Argentine aggressors in the Falklands just a few years later, and in doing so only coincidentally helped Argentina to regain a democratic form of civilian government, and this put an end to any serious Argentine ambitions to invade Chile.
@8 It seems to be a common theme with ex-pats. Maybe they are disillusioned with their own country so set up in another country only to be disappointed that it is not the solution as they are, themselves, the problem. There is no doubt that living in a country highlights the every day problems and frustrations but they exist in every country. Adapting is the key.
Sep 20th, 2016 - 04:41 am - Link - Report abuse 0I don't see hatred between the two countries but a healthy distain and jokes at one another's expense. All countries have the same relationship with their neighbours.
Haters are always going to hate but that is not the majority.
@12 “All countries have the same relationship with their neighbours.
Sep 20th, 2016 - 01:52 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Hardly. The relationship between the US and Canada is a great deal healthier than that which exists between Chile and Argentina.
No hay peor ciega que la turista que no quiere ver.
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Amusement value:
”Cuando Juan Domingo Perón fue espía en Chile”
http://www.latercera.com/noticia/mundo/2014/03/678-568363-9-cuando-juan-domingo-peron-fue-espia-en-chile.shtml
@12 Elaine
Sep 20th, 2016 - 04:25 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You are correct to say that there isn't hatred between us and the Argies. All sorts of rivalries, solidarity on some issues, but not hatred.
It is ironic that Marti of all people should say “No hay peor ciega que la turista que no quiere ver”, when he routinely demonstrates he is blind to all things positive and to all progress in this region.
@13 Blind tourist
This article is about the state of broadband penetration in the region. Chile has expanded its infraestructure very well, and if you read the report you will see that not only do we have the greatest penetration of broadband, but we also have the greatest take up of broadband in the poorest 20% - lots to be commended. But rather than see the commendable progress you, the blind turist, prefer to criticise the fact we burn wood, something that is common place in those stone-age countries of Switzerland and Austria.
Incidentally, burning wood is carbon neutral and completely renewable if you manage the forestry in a sustainable manner - something we manage better than most nations, including many near de-forested developed nations.
The report is from last year (so probably early in the year) It's September 2016 now so let's cut the crap about the lack of 'quality' in Uruguay and bring some reality to the discusussion not guesswork from those who do not have the relevant in-country experience, shall we?
Sep 20th, 2016 - 06:07 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I have lived in UYU and in those 5 1/2 years have gone from dial-up (remember that) to 1Mbps then 5Mbps and am now on almost 10Mbps and the cost has not gone up (so far).
The entire country in 2015 had ALL the copper replaced in every spur giving rise to less noise (high speed breaks) interfering with internet traffic and now we are being connected by fibre direct into the home.
It is already in the connection cabinet less than 75M from my casa but ANTEL have been told by The Broad Fraud government that they must connect all government offices before the public, allegedly so the public can access all services from day one. Pity that government offices are so behind the times with their IT infrastructure.
That was never in the original plan and has caused great unrest in ANTEL who are still to receive from their suppliers (working to the original plan) photo-optronic equipment for some parts of the country that the government want connect before me and my neighbours.
Interestingly I am informed that that the speed will be up to 50Mbps to start with and the overall design is for 100Mbps once everything beds down. No sign of how much that will cost but it will be more expensive than present plans.
Try doing a speed test to Nottingham in the UK from outside the UK and you will be lucky to get 4Mbps. Some areas around London are down to 3.2Mbps in the late afternoon. VPN (IPVanish) or direct makes no difference.
The UK is not even doing fibre into the home and BT has no plans to do so: so much for higher standards of developed countries.
“Altos niveles de contaminación mantiene a tres ciudades con emergencia ambiental”
Sep 20th, 2016 - 06:08 pm - Link - Report abuse 0”El caso más crítico es Osorno, que esta mañana marcó un peak de 614 puntos (Icap). El miércoles pasado, Coyhaique alcanzó los 1.066 puntos a las 18 horas, lo que es considerado peligroso para la salud.
“Equivale a los niveles de China”, dijo el académico de la U. de Santiago, Ernesto Gramsch. Las otras comunas donde se registra un episodio crítico hoy son Talca, Linares, Chillán, Temuco y Valdivia.
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Air quality as bad as China, but without the development.
We can't breathe, but we have internet!
@14 It is sad to see the scramble for a negative story nothing to do with the article. We could all do that. Everyone is well away of the problems of pollution but Chile is making great steps to try to solve it. Take Santiago which has a negative geographic problem that catches the pollution between he mountains. They monitor it and have restrictions on car use when it is bad and newer cars on the streets. Compare that to Buenos Aires (ironic). When I was living there, in a nice area, every time I stepped out of my apartment it was dodge the dog-shit strewn pavements and the pollution from the buses and old jalopy cars belching out black smoke, it was awful. The air was thick with pollution. See, it is easy to criticise but I still loved my time there.
Sep 21st, 2016 - 09:03 am - Link - Report abuse 0These are developing countries and we criticise their pollution levels when our developed countries did exactly the same. Now we are trying to clean up our acts of pollution we expect a higher standard from developing countries.
@ 14 Condorito
Sep 21st, 2016 - 09:35 am - Link - Report abuse 0You are quite right.
The story of the deforestation of our island is a very sad one. In England there are very few acres of native woodland remaining.
@15 Chris
“The UK is not even doing fibre into the home and BT has no plans to do so”
You are quite right. It is a very sad state. Here in the rural north, the roll out of fibre is slow and incomplete. Our nearest cabinet was connected to fast bb a year ago, but there are no plans to put fibre through to the many communities that cabinet serves, so we are stuck with slow (1 - 2 M) connections. BT said they would do it if we shared some of the cost, which came to over £1000 per household. Unsurprisingly, not everyone accepted their offer.
I have been to many developing countries where you can get fast bb in rural areas. Botswana and Chile stand out. I remember being amazed in the late 90s to find good internet in remote towns in Chile's Atacama desert.
@ 16 Marti Llazo
I fail to follow your argument.
Are you saying “The State of Broadband 2016” report is inaccurate because Chile has bad air quality in some towns?
Or are you saying that because there is bad air quality in some towns, that they shouldn't have expanded their bb infrastructure.
Neither makes any sense.
Aside from your confused logic, it is inaccurate to say that: ”(Chile has) Air quality as bad as China, but without the development”.
The World Health Organisation data shows air pollution in China to be significantly worst than in Latin America. Santiago is less polluted than almost every city in China for which there are data.
Have a look at this site - real time air pollution monitoring:
https://waqi.info/
China is a mass of red flags. At time of posting the only red flags in South America: Lima, Sao Paulo and Bahia Blanca - none in Chile! Also interesting is the Chile seems to be measuring air pollution in every town, whereas other countries in the region have almost no monitoring.
Try removing your crap-tinted glasses.
@ 14 Condorito
Sep 21st, 2016 - 09:40 am - Link - Report abuse 0You are quite right.
The story of the deforestation of our island is a very sad one. In England there are very few acres of native woodland remaining.
@15 Chris
“The UK is not even doing fibre into the home and BT has no plans to do so”
You are quite right. It is a very sad state. Here in the rural north, the roll out of fibre is slow and incomplete. Our nearest cabinet was connected to fast bb a year ago, but there are no plans to put fibre through to the many communities that cabinet serves, so we are stuck with slow (1 - 2 M) connections. BT said they would do it if we shared some of the cost, which came to over £1000 per household. Unsurprisingly, not everyone accepted their offer.
I have been to many developing countries where you can get fast bb in rural areas. Botswana and Chile stand out. I remember being amazed in the late 90s to find good internet in remote towns in Chile's Atacama desert.
@ 16 Marti Llazo
I fail to follow your argument.
Are you saying “The State of Broadband 2016” report is inaccurate because Chile has bad air quality in some towns?
Or are you saying that because there is bad air quality in some towns, that they shouldn't have expanded their bb infrastructure.
Neither makes any sense.
Aside from your confused logic, it is inaccurate to say that: ”(Chile has) Air quality as bad as China, but without the development”.
The World Health Organisation data shows air pollution in China to be significantly worst than in Latin America. Santiago is less polluted than almost every city in China for which there are data.
Have a look at this site - real time air pollution monitoring:
https://waqi.info/
China is a mass of red flags. At time of posting the only red flags in South America: Lima, Sao Paulo and Bahia Blanca - none in Chile! Also interesting is the Chile seems to be measuring air pollution in every town, whereas other countries in the region have almost no monitoring.
Try removing your crap-tinted glasses.
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