After almost five years of discussion, the lower house of Brazil’s congress, the Chamber of Deputies, voted in favor of approving the Internet bill named the Marco Civil da Internet. It is now going to the senate and President Dilma Rousseff for their approvals. If enacted, the bill would be the first major step toward ensuring the principal of net neutrality in Brazil. It also removes the requirement for companies to host data from Brazilian users within the country’s borders—a change that is considered a win for companies such as Google and Facebook.
The Marco Civil establishes the general principle that net neutrality should be guaranteed, meaning telecom providers cannot favor certain Internet services over others to their own commercial advantage. Now passage of the bill depends on the senate and on Rousseff— the president is required to consider input from the regulatory agency Anatel and the Internet Committee (CGI) on this issue.
Also, the proposed Brazilian law limits the liability of Web platforms if users upload certain types of unlawful content. The Marco Civil states that intermediaries can only be held liable if they do not comply with a court order explicitly demanding content be removed. This regulation, however, is not applicable to copyright infringement, which will be dealt with in a forthcoming copyright reform bill.
The first draft of the Marco Civil was dated October 29, 2009. The bill was introduced in congress by rapporteur Dep. Alessandro Molon (Worker’s Party, Rio de Janeiro) about two years ago, aiming to guarantee civil rights in the Internet use in Brazil. The draft bill was approved by the Brazilian Congress Câmara dos Deputados on March 25, 2014 and was submitted to the Senado Federal. The proposal was backed by all parties, except one, the PPS (the Popular Socialist Party).
One of the biggest topics of discussion was the requirement that companies such as Google and Facebook store data on Brazilians within Brazil’s borders, using local data centers. Instead, the bill now forces international Web firms to adhere to Brazilian privacy laws in legal disputes regarding local citizens and make data available to law enforcement. Those that argued against the need for in-country data centers said the requirement would hurt the country’s competitiveness, increase the cost of doing business, lead to slower growth and make Brazilian Internet users more vulnerable to hacking.
>>> Check out the full content of the Marco Civil here (in Portuguese).
Mexico’s telecom bill: Mexico’s government sent the fine print of its proposal to overhaul the country’s deeply uncompetitive phone and TV industries to the senate. This follows the constitutional reforms approved last year and aims to boost competition in the country’s telecoms sectors, which are dominated by billionaire Carlos Slim’s America Movil and Televisa, which is controlled by Emilio Azcárraga.
Forbes’ Dolia Estevez noted that the new anti-monopoly telecom law might not be all bad for Carlos Slim. “It increasingly seems that the world’s second richest man is within reach of one of his biggest ambitions: entering the promising business of Mexican pay-TV, which is currently controlled by a duopoly,” Estevez writes.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Slim’s dominance in the phone market is not an obstacle for him to bid in the upcoming tender of two new television broadcast networks, as long as his companies comply with the regulatory restrictions to boost competition in the phone market.
Colombia’s telecom numbers: Currently, Colombia has more than 50 million mobile phone subscribers, which means the country has 106.7 lines per 100 inhabitants. Of these, 78.62 % are prepaid and 21.38% are in the postpaid segment. LTE users totaled 158,118 by December 2013. As for broadband Internet connections, the country went from 2.2 million connections in 2010 to 8.2 million in 2013, which is an increase of 33.9 % compared to 2012.
- Also in Colombia, the government announced permit renewals for mobile operators Claro and Movistar for the use of spectrum of 40 of the 85 Mhz for the provision of telecom services for 10 years. The renewals are intended to provide greater quality, connectivity to public institutions and special social tariffs for low-income people.
- The regulator CRC issued a rule starting July 1 which forbids mobile operators from adding minimum time clauses in contracts.
More news from Latin America:
- Uruguay’s Senate passed a bill that will lower rates and reduce Antel UTE and VAT tariffs to combat inflation.
- Argentina’s government is reportedly planning to provide up to a maximum of 5 million Argentinean pesos (about $625,000) in financing for the construction of new telecom networks and for the replacement, expansion or improvement of existing ones.
- Peru’s regulator has approved a reduction in mobile telephony rates for low-income people. The measure is expected to help reach 220,000 users.
- Claro Colombia has already launched LTE services in Bogota, Medellin, Cali and in the coming weeks it will launch in Bucaramanga, Barranquilla, San Andrés and the Coffee, covering 50% of the Colombian population over the next 90 days. The investment is estimated at $1 billion for 2014, similar to the amount invested in the last three years.
- Millicom launched Tigo Star to support growth strategy in cable and entertainment, starting in Paraguay on March 21 with El Salvador and Costa Rica following on March 26, before being rolled out to other markets in Latin America during 2014.
- Also, Tigo has contracted with AURIS for business intelligence solutions. The agreement aims to maximize the results of Tigo’s operations in Colombia, Honduras and El Salvador.
- Telefónica named Juan Antonio Abellán Ríos as CEO for the northern region of Latin America, which is comprised of Mexico, Venezuela and Central America. Previously, he was CEO of the company’s Mexican unit.
- Level 3 Communications announced the construction of a new undersea cable, connecting Colombia to its international network. The terrestrial segment of the cable in Colombia is being constructed in conjunction with the state-owned utility Emcali.
Wondering what’s going on in Latin America? Why don’t you follow me on Twitter? Also check out all of RCR Wireless News’ Latin American content.
