+

The Internet in Brazil Origins and Governance

Peter T. Knight ptknight@braudel.org.br

INET São Paulo 28 November 2014

+Summary

! The First Steps: 1973-1989 ! Rise of the Academic Internet ! Birth of the RNP ! Connecting the RNP to the Internet ! The First ISPs ! The Creation of CGI.br ! Privatization of Telecommunications and the Commercial Internet ! Development of the Brazilian Internet ! The National Broadband Program (PNBL) ! Expansion of the RNP and State Broadband Networks ! The Internet Bill of Rights and NETmundial (covered in other talks) ! Lessons from the Brazilian Experience

+The first steps: 1973-1989

"  1975 Vint Cerf and Keith Uncapher demonstrate ARPANET at the First Latin American Seminar on Data Communication during 7th National Conference on Data Processing, São Paulo

"  1975 Telebras: Latin American Computer Network (Rede Latina-Americana de Computadores – REDLAC) Research on packet switching centered in CPqD (Campinas) and USP

"  1975-1979 PND II (Geisel Government) and Creation of the Special Secretariat for Informatics (SEI) in 1979, control of trans-border data flows

"  1980-1989: Protocol Wars – OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) developed International Organization of Standards (ISO) 1981-1984 vs TCP/IP (1973, Vint Cerf & Robert Kahn) – SEI supports OSI

+ Rise of the Academic Internet and the RNP

"  1973-1978 Southern Teleprocessing Network (RST) Liane Tarouco (UFRGS), contact with Leonard Kleinrock, attempt to connect to ARPANET (too costly)

"  1979 National Computer Network Laboratory (LARC), virtual organization, established; UFRJ and PUC-Rio especially active

"  1982 PUC-Rio begins work on packet switch in joint project with Telebras, Embratel, and USP called REDPUC; courses on computer networking

"  1984 Rio Network project created, but fails to get off ground

"  October 1987 2-day meeting at USP organized by Paulo Aguiar (UFRJ & LARC) and Michael Stanton (PUC-Rio), with support from CNPq: 38 academic researchers, government representatives (including SEI), and Embratel

+ Rise of the Academic Internet (2) "  November1986 Michael Stanton, Paulo Aguiar, and Alexandre

Grojsgold participate in the 6th International Networking Workshop at Princeton University: extensive contacts with international academic networking community

"  1988-1989 LNCC, FAPESP, and UFRJ separately establish network links with three different US institutions using BITNET. Approved by SEI and Embratel April 1988 no TCP/IP, no links between the 3 Brazilian institutions (contrary to Brazilian legislation)

"  1989 FAPESP working group led by Demi Getschko creates the Academic Network at São Paulo (ANSP) linking 5 institutions using a single ANSP. shared international link. LNCC and FAPESP gets authorization to link institutions outside Rio-São Paulo axis

"  1990 UFMG, linked to LNCC in Rio, establishes BITNET link with USP in April and LNCC links with UFRJ in November, uniting the 3 “islands” of connectivity of in the Brazilian BITNET

+Brazil’s Bitnet in 1991

+Birth of the RNP

"  October 1987 The National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) convenes supports a meeting at USP coordinated by Paulo Aguiar (UFRJ & LARC) and Michael Stanton (PUC-Rio), sowing the seeds for what became the RNP

"  Mid-1988 A working group linked with the Ministry of Science and Technology is established, coordinated by Tadao Takahashi, then of CNPq, to create the RNP project

"  September1989 RNP project launched at a the National Informatics Conference in São Paulo by the federal Special Secretary for Science and Technology, Décio Leal Zagottis.

"  1990 Tadao Takahashi becomes head Coordinator of RNP and recruits Demi Getschko (operations) and Michael Stanton (R&D)

"  1990-1991 The protocol wars continue, with SEI defending the use of OSI, and academic networkers seeking to implement deploy TCP/IP to be able to connect to the international Internet.

"  March 1991 Getschko and Stanton spend 3 weeks in the US representing RNP, participating in a meetings of the IETF and visiting networking research institutions organizations and universities

"  November 1991 Progressive dismantling of the National Informatics Policy under the Collor government culminates in Law 8248 eliminating the market reserve policy for computers, peripherals, and telecom equipment and weakening of opposition to the use of TCP/IP.

"  1991 RNP, with support of Ivan Moura Campos (named CNPq Director of Special Programs), mobilizes political and economic support for building the RNP backbone.

+The RNP Network of Leased Lines Supplied by Embratel, Early1992

+Connecting the RNP to the

Internet "  1987 Carlos Afonso, who returned to Brazil from political exile in 1979,

launches Alternex, a network of Brazilian NGOs

"  May 1990 At an Amsterdam conference, Alternex and NGOs from six other countries form the Association for Progressive Computing (APC), following the lead of the Institute for Global Communications (IGC)

"  1990 Afonso, mobilizing support from UNDP, FINEP, and international NGOs, establishes the first non-academic link to the Internet between Alternex and IGC (IGC, located in the US, had a gateway to the Internet).

"  June 1992 Alternex, after difficult and complex negotiations (and supported by Takahashi in the RNP, the United Nations, and the new Rede Rio academic network), links RNP to the Internet using an two Embratel links (1 from Rio, the other from São Paulo) during the United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED) a.k.a. Rio-92 and Eco-92.

+Brazilian ISPs Multiply

"  After UNCED Rio-92, Alternex continued its collaboration with Rede Rio and became the first Brazilian non-academic ISP.

"  Alternex’s use of Rede Rio’s connectivity at no cost resulted in polemics, since Alternex charged some customers to cover costs, seen as “commercial” activity on the academic network.

"  Alternex, even before UNCED Rio-92, had begun a program to help Brazilian BBSs (Bulletin Board Systems) become ISPs.

"  More than 150 BBSs eventually made the transition, but this resulted in Rede Rio cutting Alternex’s link to the Internet.

"  RNP continued to provide Internet access for Alternex from its Rio PoP using FAPESP’s international link to the Internet.

"  By 2014 there were some 8,000 Brazilian ISPs, of which about 4,000 have formal licenses to operate.

"  The large number of small and medium ISPs is one of the distinguishing characteristics of the Internet in Brazil.

+Privatization and Development

of the Commercial Internet "  Commercial use of the Internet in Brazil began only in 1995,

after a pilot trial by Embratel in December 1994.

"  President Fernando Henrique Cardoso took office in January 1995, determined to end state monopoly of telecommunications.

"  Norm 004-1995 defined Internet access as a value-added service over which there would be no monopoly, allowing small ISPs like those incubated by Alternex to grow.

"  The General Telecommunications Law of 16 July 1997 created Anatel. Together with a constitutional amendment passed in October 1995, this ended the state monopoly telecom and set stage for a competitive telecom market.

"  Privatization was carried out in 1998.

+National Broadband Program

(PNBL) "  The “Green Book” on the Information Society in Brazil, prepared

in 1990 by a team led by Tadao Takahashi in the MCT, was the only attempt to develop a national ICT4D strategy, but it was never developed or implemented.

"  The PNBL is the first serious attempt to implement a national broadband policy and program other than the academic Internet (RNP), but does not embody a broad ICT4D strategy.

"  Presidential Decree 7.175 of 12 May 2010 created the PNBL.

"  Telebras was reactivated as the principal instrument for executing the PNBL, against resistance by private telcos.

"  Telebras funding has been limited.

"  Most development of Telebras backbone through public-public and public-private partnerships for sharing or leasing fiber.

+Telebras Backbone 2014 as

Projected in 2012

+ Household Internet Access 2013 (CETIC.br sample survey, excludes mobile phones)

+Individuals Internet Access, 2013

(CETIC.br sample survey)

+ RNP Rede Ipê Backbone Network in 2014

+ RNP’s Community Networks Project (Redecomep) and the Veredas Novas (New

Paths) Project

"  Fiber optic rings in all 26 state capitals plus the Federal District (Brasília) and other cities of significant interest, e.g. housing a federal institution of higher education

"  Partnerships for sharing fiber with state governments, electric power distributors, Petrobras, Telebras, metros, toll road operators, and other non-academic entities able to provide rights of way, ducts, fiber connections, etc.

"  Expansion under way to research and higher education institutions in the interior of states under Veredas Novas (a joint project of the MCTI, MEC, MC and Telebras, as well as commercial operators)

"  Access to backbone at interior PoPs for ISPs offering PNBL prices for entry level broadband Internet Access (1 mbps down, 128 kbps up)

+ Redecomep-Rio Topology

+Redecomep-Rio

RNP + 6 Partners

+The Veredas Novas (New Paths)

Project

+State Broadband Networks

"  Beginning with the states of Pará and Ceará, several Brazilian states have or are planning to build their own hybrid fiber/wireless broadband networks

"  Objectives: "  Serve government entities in all municipalities of the state "  Dramatically reduce costs of broadband service to state and

municipal governments "  Promote digital inclusion of the population "  Cover current costs to state ICT companies through leasing dark fiber

"  Important characteristics: "  Build substantially greater capacity (fibers in cable) than needed for

government use "  partnerships with RNP, electric power distribution companies, other

owners of fiber, and telcos (private and Telebras)

"  Ceara’s Digital Beltway (Cinturão Digital) as model – innovative new auction for leasing dark fiber to telcos: 8 December 2014

+ Ceara’s Cinturão Digital

+The Brazilian Internet Steering

Committee (CGI.br) "  Created anby Inter-ministerial ordinance 31 May 1995, amended

by Presidential Decree 3 September 2003

"  Brazilian Network Information Center (NIC.br) created in December 2005 to serve as executive arm of CGI.br

"  Mandate: Coordinate and integrate all Internet service initiatives in Brazil, promote technical q1uality, innovation, and dissemination of available Internet services

"  Multistakeholder institution: "  9 representatives of Federal Government "  4 representatives of the corporate sector "  4 representatives of civil society (called “third sector” in Brazil) "  3 representatives of the scientific and technological community "  1 Internet expert

+CGI.br Structure

+ Lessons from Brazil’s Experience

"  Lack of a national ICT4D/eTransformation strategy has reduced the speed of digital inclusion, the quality of Internet service, and access to benefits of Internet access (eGovernment, eLearning, eCommerce, etc.).

"  There is a need for "  dynamic leadership, prioritization and inter-ministerial coordination from the

top of government to reap economies of scale and inter-sectorial synergies "  A public-private strategic communication program to build consensus on

ICT4D objectives to encourage a strong bottom-up mobilization and participation to implement the strategy.

"  Current federal and state tax policies run contrary to digital inclusion objectives, and may even reduce revenue.

"  Public-Public and Public-Private partnerships are critical for rapid expansion of broadband infrastructure.

"  Brazil’s multistakeholder Internet governance model is worthy of adoption or adaptation by other countries.

+Questions?

Peter T. Knight ptknight@braudel.org.br