Communication networks and services have not reached either the poor or the rural people of Latin America and the Caribbean. The conventional answer to this problem had been to offer public subsidies to incumbent operators to cover the difference between tariffs and cost-recovery levels.
This paper examines a different answer, suggesting that “microtelcos” - small-scale telecom operators that combine local entrepreneurship, municipal efforts, and community action - can play an important role in extending services to areas that are unattractive to large private operators.
Several examples are given of microtelcos throughout Latin America and the Carribbean who are effectively providing service in their area despite a less than favorable regulatory environment and little access to public subsidies
This paper is one of a series produced by DIRSI (Regional Dialogue on the Information Society - Diálogo Regional sobre Sociedad de la Información) WDR's partner in Latin America and the Caribbean. It was written by Hernan Galperin & Bruce Girard. Available http://www.dirsi.net/index.php?name=UpDownload&req=getit&lid=39.
The papers were published in the book Digital Poverty: Latin American and Caribbean perspectives available at
http://www.dirsi.net/index.php?module=htmlpages&func=display&pid=63.
