translated from Spanish: Fiber optic connections double in different communes in first semester

The Undersecretariat of Telecommunications (SUBTEL) today carried out a deep X-ray to the digital divide. This is the result of the lack of access to fixed broadband presented by different communes throughout Chile.To carry out this analysis the country was divided into 6 areas: Metropolitan Area of Gran Santiago, Gran Valparaíso, Gran Concepción, main cities with population over 200 thousand inhabitants, cities with population over 50 thousand inhabitants, and towns and rural areas. In this way, the result of this study showed that fiber optic connections have doubled in different communes throughout the country from December 2019 to June 2020. This is the case of the commune of Melipilla (30,400%), Arica (203.2%), La Granja (195.6%), Peñaflor (187%), Tomé (163.9%), San Antonio (163%), Constitución (163%), Constitución (121.4%), Coquimbo (111.3%), Angol (105.2%), Peñalolén (104.4%), Antofagasta (102.9%), and San Ramón (91.9%). In this line, to measure the social impact of the gap, SUBTEL will sponsor the first communal ranking of digital vulnerability in Chile, initiative led by the Con@cción program of the Ibero-American Observatory for Digital Communications (OCD) in collaboration with Adolfo Ibáñez University, the University of Santiago, Entel and Google.La undersecretary of telecommunications, Pamela Gidi, indicated that “as SUBTEL we are promoting a series of initiatives to improve the connectivity of all the inhabitants of Chile, mainly those living in areas where commercial supply often does not arrive. In this sense, it is essential to promote a private public alliance that allows to incentivize infrastructure deployments and inject more competition into the broadband market in the country and that seek to connect with the high-capacity and quality Internet to thousands of users who for various reasons could not access such connections.” There is a high risk of social exclusion with technological transformation and it is essential to study in depth this phenomenon to build public policies of digital inclusion that put people at the center”, declares the Director of Linking the Observatory Con@cción, Pablo Cereceda.Critical and alert ZonesThe deployment of the fixed Internet is concentrated in the main metropolitan areas of the country: Metropolitan Area of Santiago, the Great Valparaiso and the Great Conception. If all the communes with more than 200 thousand inhabitants are added to these areas, we are talking about 6.8% of the national territory, but which concentrates 76% of the total households with fixed Internet in the country. By contrast, 93.2% of the territory owns only 24% of all households connected to the fixed Internet. In addition, of the total number of zones included in the first five categories, equivalent to 95 communes, a total of 23 communes are in critical condition due to the low levels of fixed connectivity they present. In this sense, the list is composed of the communes of La Pintana, Cerro Navia, Lo Espejo, San Ramón, Lota, Hualpén, Hualqui, Los Angeles, Maule, Padre Las Casas, Constitución, Paine, Villarrica, Melipilla, San Carlos, Ovalle, San Vicente, Chillán Viejo, Rengo, Vallenar, Linares, San Antonio and Alto Hospicio.The cadastre notes that 19 other communes are on alert due to their fixed connectivity. This is the case of Lo Prado, Recoleta, La Granja, San Joaquín, Valparaíso, Concepción, Coronel, Penco, Tomé, Arica, Coquimbo, Rancagua, Puerto Montt, Angol, Talagante, San Fernando, Coyhaique, Buin and San Felipe.On the other hand, the study carried out by SUBTEL indicates that the digital divide is lower in large cities and greater in rural communes. However, in the case of highly populated areas, the gap is largely conditioned by the economic income of families. In this line, in the case of the segment of villages and rural areas, the analysis is dramatic. For example, the regions of Arica and Parinacota, and Coquimbo have very poor connectivity rates outside their regional capitals and large cities. Meanwhile, the rest of the regions present bad indicators, with the exceptions Being Biobío and Los Ríos with not so bad indicators compared to the rest of the country.” SUBTEL has a strong action plan to deal with this harsh reality. In addition to the 5G Public Competition, we are implementing projects that will increase the amount of fiber optics available in the country such as the FOA and FON initiatives. We also promote other initiatives such as “Wifi ChileGob 2.0″, which adds 1,200 new public wifi points to our territory and the Transocean Cable, which seeks to strengthen Chile’s international connectivity”, said Undersecretary Gidi.

Original source in Spanish