This paper discusses the development of the Information Superhighway in Latin America. It traces the origins of the Internet from ARPANET in the 1960s. The Organization of American States played a key role in expanding connectivity to Latin America through its RedHUCyT initiative in the early 1990s. This connected the first Latin American countries like Mexico and Brazil to the NSFNET backbone. Throughout the 1990s, telecommunication reforms and privatization helped introduce new technologies like broadband and cable modem that have improved Internet access, though many rural areas still lack connectivity due to insufficient infrastructure investments.

1. LATIN AMERICA
AND THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY
Submitted to Daniel Wilson, Ph.D.
Submitted by Victor Molina
A Paper Presented in Partial Fulfillment
for ITM 598 Forecasting and Evolution of Technology Class
ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY
February 2003

2. INTRODUCTION
The present paper on ‘Latin America and the Information Superhighway’ is
a partial fulfillment for ITM 598 Forecasting and Evolution of Technology class.
In the context of this paper, Information Superhigway will be defined as
the group of infrastructural elements that facilitate access to the Internet.
The first objective to be met is to trace the origins of the Internet and the
World Wide Web in the global context.
The second objective is to trace the early development of the Information
Superhighway in the United States of America and how it was extended to Latin
America.
The third objective is to analyze the interaction between enabling
technologies, sustaining technologies, and disruptive technologies and
constrains throughout the evolution of the Information Superhighway in Latin
America.
The relevance of this paper lie in the fact that tracing the origins and early
development of the Information Superhighway in Latin America, I will be able to
understand the digital gap that technologically divide the North from the South of
the Americas.
LATIN AMERICA AND THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY 2

3. FROM THE PAN AMERICAN HIGHWAY TO
THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY
In 1923, during the Fifth Conference of the Pan American States, a
resolution calling for the creation of the Pan American highway, was approved.
The United States not only supported but also financed this 16000 miles-in-
length network that goes from Alaska to Patagonia. The only gap the project
does still have is Darien gap in the Panama-Colombia border. However, by 1960
most of the Pan American highway was already in place. The objectives of the
Pan American highway, among others, are (a) to enhance the communication in
the Americas, and (b) to promote trade.
Also, during the 1960s, another network was created. This network is now
called Internet. According to Castells (2000) “the origins of the Internet lies in the
work of one of the most innovative research institutions in the world: the US
Defense Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA).” (p. 45).
One of the most innovative ARPA’s project was developed by Paul Baran in
1960-4. Baran’s project consisted in the design of a communication system
“independent of command and control centers, so that message units would find
their own routes along the network, being reassembled in coherent meaning at
any point in the network.” (p. 45). By the end of the decade, on September 1,
1969, “with the first four nodes of a network being established at the University of
California, Los Angeles, Stanford Research Institute, University of California,
LATIN AMERICA AND THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY 3

4. Santa Barbara, and University of Utah, the first computer network, named
ARPANET after its powerful sponsor, went on-line.” (p. 45).
Within ARPANET, the National Science Foundation also created a
scientific network called CSNET, and – in cooperation with IBM- one non-
scientific network called BITNET. “Yet all networks used ARPANET as their
backbone communication system.” (Castells, p. 45). During the 1980s this
network of networks was called ARPA-INTERNET, and finally INTERNET.
Internet was still supported by the Defense Department but operated by the
National Science Foundation (NSF). However, according to Castells (2000),
“having become technologically obsolete after more than 20 years of service,
ARPANET was closed down on February 28, 1990.” (p. 45). Finally, the NSFNET
operated by the NSF, became the backbone of the Internet.
During the 1990s, being the Pan American Highway almost seventy years
old, “Vice-President Al Gore, the son of the man behind America’s network of
Interstate highways, was taking a leaf out of his father’s book and turning the
Internet into what he called the Information Superhighway through the National
Information Infrastructure initiative.” (Gillies, p. 265). This Information
Superhighway made possible Internet access for most schools and houses in the
United States. Latin American countries wanted also to be part of this information
infrastructure with a digital version of the Pan American highway. However, the
infrastructural and technological gap that separated the United States from the
rest of the Americas was so long and deep at that time that Latin American
countries once again needed technical and financial support from the
LATIN AMERICA AND THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY 4

5. Organization of American States, in order to be connected to the Internet
backbone.
INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY IN LATIN AMERICA:
FROM NSFNET TO RedHUCyT
One of the early attempts to extend the U.S. Information Superhighway to
Latin America was carried on by the Organization of American States in the early
1990s. According to Hahn (1995), “The Organization of American States (OAS)
approved the initiative ‘Hemisphere-Wide Inter-University Scientific and
Technological Information Network’ (RedHUCyT, an acronym in Spanish).
RedHUCyT's main objective was to connect the member States of the OAS to
Internet, by integrating an electronic network for the exchange of specialized
information among different academic and scientific institutions.” (p. 1). Because
of it, a close relationship was established between OAS and the National Science
Foundation Network (NSFNET), which by that time already was the backbone of
the Internet in the world.
The first Latin American countries connected to the Internet through the
NSFNET were Mexico (.mx) and Puerto Rico (.pr) in 1989; and Brazil (.br),
Argentina (.ar), and Chile (.cl) in 1990. In the following three years almost all
Latin American countries were connected to the NSFNET/RedHUCyT Network:
Ecuador (.ec) and Venezuela (.ve) in 1992; Costa Rica (.cr) and Peru (.pe) in
LATIN AMERICA AND THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY 5

6. 1993; Colombia (.co), Jamaica (.jm), Nicaragua (.ni), Panama (.pa), and Uruguay
(.uy) in 1994.
At the end of the year 1994, the Summit of the Americas, sponsored by
the Organization of American States, was held in Miami, Florida. “Thirty four
Heads of State gathered in this city and signed a Plan of Action which specifically
included a chapter for Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure. In this
chapter, the governments of the Americas recognize that a country's information
infrastructure is an essential component of political, economic, social and cultural
development. The Governments assumed several key responsibilities including
the effort to encourage major universities, libraries, hospitals and government
agencies to have access to these networks, building on the work of the OAS /
RedHUCyT. ” (Hahn, 1995).
In 1995, due to “commercial pressures and the growth of private corporate
networks, and of non-profit, cooperative networks,” (Castells, 2000, p. 46), the
last government operated Internet backbone, NSFNET, was closed.
REFORMS IN THE TELECOMMUNICATION INDUSTRY
IN LATIN AMERICA
One of the most important steps taken in Latin America toward the
creation of the information infrastructure was the reform in the telecommunication
industry. Telecommunication companies in Latin America used to be not only
public companies but also strategic areas under total control of the State. This
situation was held until the 1980s, when a privatization wave went over the
LATIN AMERICA AND THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY 6

7. region. According to Hilbert (2001), “Chile was the first country in Latin America
to sell its state-owned telecommunication company already in 1988.” (p. 18).
However, by the year 2000, almost every country in Latin America had privatized
its telecommunication system.
Unfortunately, this privatization process was carried in some countries in
such a way that major international or local companies bought Latin American
telecommunication public monopolies and turned them into private monopolies.
According to Hilbert (2001) this trend went against all recommendations towards
competition in the telecommunication sector, and specially in the fixed line
segment of this sector.
TECHNOLOGICAL CONSTRAINS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE
INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE IN LATIN AMERICA
Most of Latin American gateways have already 56 kbits/s dial-up
connection. However, in some regions of Latin America such as small cities and
rural areas, which account for almost 50 percent of the population, telephone
lines are not digital but analog. Analog telephone lines allow only 14 kbits/s data
transmission through which Internet is reduced to e-mail but not web browsing.
The main reason why some areas of Latin America are being excluded from the
information infrastructure is because investment in those areas is not profitable
due to the small size of the market, and the low purchasing power as well as
poor e-readiness of their inhabitants.
LATIN AMERICA AND THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY 7

8. Additionally, Hilbert continues, a considerable percentage of home users
and educational institutions do not have in Latin America the economic capacity
to upgrade and update their computers as often as it could be needed. In Brazil
alone, Hilbert states, up to 44 % of Internet users are still dialing up through 33.6
kbits/s or slower modems. This fact has a significantly negative impact in e-
commerce sites, which because of their rich image content, cannot be opened by
the common Internet user.
As we can see, enabling technologies such as analog telephone lines are
still in control of the information infrastructure in Latin America and that is one of
the reasons that explain the digital gap. However, companies that offer services
through these enabling technologies are facing serious challenges because of
the privatization of the telecommunication sector in the region. Despite the fact
that low level of competition has been introduced in Latin American market, some
private companies are already introducing digital lines to the Information
Superhighway in Latin America. Some relevant cases are Mexico, Costa Rica,
Brazil, Argentina and Chile. Internet users in are growing at fast pace in this
countries and demands generated by this new market are claiming for alternative
solution to the slow change experienced by the telephone infrastructure.
Disruptive technologies such as broadband, cable modem and DSL are being
considered as a possible solution. These are the new areas of investment for
improving Internet services in Latin America. However, Hilbert (2001) states, only
Chile and Argentina have a good standing cable network, while the rest of the
LATIN AMERICA AND THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY 8

9. Latin American countries are going to need a considerable investment in
infrastructure before this type of services can be delivered.
LATIN AMERICA AND THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY 9

10. CONCLUSIONS
The Organization of American States has played a vital role in the
expansion of communication infrastructure in the Americas, from the Pan
American highway (1923) to the Information Superhighway (1991).
Enabling and sustaining technologies are still dominant in the
telecommunication sector in the region. However, since the reform in the
telecommunication industry in Latin America during the 1980s, digital telephone
lines, mobile telecommunication and Internet have introduced disruptive
technologies that are widely improving the Information Superhighway in Latin
America, particularly in countries such as Brazil, Argentina and Chile.
Finally, as it was stated in the introduction, understanding the recent
evolution of the Information Superhighway in Latin America is essential in the for
further forecasting of information technologies in the region.
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11. REFERENCES
Castells, M. (2000). The Rise of the Network Society. (2nd ed.) Oxford: Blackwell
Publishers Ltd.
Gillies, J., & Cailliau, R. (2000). How the Web was Born: The Story of the World
Wide Web. New York: Oxford University Press Inc.
Hahn, Saul (1995, August 7). Networking In Latin America and the Caribbean
and the OAS/RedHUCyT Project. The Internet Society [Online]. Available:
http://www.isoc.org/HMP/PAPER/168/abst.html
United Nations-Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean/UN-
ECLAC. (2001). Latin America on its path into the digital age: where are
we? Santiago, Chile: Hilbert, M.
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