Jeremiah P. Spence & Laura A. Q. Barbosa, May 2001
Introduction
Brazil is the largest country in South America, with a population of 173
million (2000). The population is a cultural-ethnic mix of indigenous,
African black, colonial Portuguese, immigrant Europeans & Japanese. The
Brazilian population is over 80% urban, and there is a very distinct
economic divide. The top 5% of the population control well over 50% of
the national economy. The main language spoken in Brazil is Brazilian
Portuguese. There are also significant pockets of German, Polish,
Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Dutch, and a variety of indigenous languages
spoken in the country. The economy of Brazil is the eighth largest in
the world and is a diversified mix of agriculture, industry, export, and
tourism.
The Digital Divide in Brazil
This paper will attempt to identify the barriers to access to the
Internet, which play a part in the growing digital divide in Brazil. The
existing barriers can be easily broken down into four major sections.
The first major barrier that we will examine is an infrastructure-based
issue. If you have large tracts of the country that have no access to
electricity or phone lines then it is quite difficult to imagine that
these areas will have exposure to the Internet. The second barrier is
very difficult to resolve, it is a systemic barrier that exists in the
economic situation of the country. This barrier creates a basic divide
between the haves and the haves-nots that defines the Internet usage
patterns of the populace of the country. The third major barrier is in
the area of societal issues. There are major problems in Brazil with
literacy and education. The fourth major area we will examine is in the
Internet usage-adoption patterns. We will discuss in the section how the
upper 15% of the population seems to be rapidly accepting the Internet
and integrating it in to their lifestyle, but the rest of the population
faces large economic, social, and infrastructure barriers to gain access
to the Internet.
The current divide in access mirrors the country's economic division.
The situation in Brazil is quite distinct. Among the top 15% of the
population there is a very rapid penetration of Internet usage (31.7% in
2001), as displayed in table 1.[i] However, the rates
of penetration among the general population of Brazil are sparse (4.8% in
2001), as illustrated in table 2.[ii]
As you can see in the following table 3, the rate of PC penetration is
Brazil is remarkably low, which of course a clear reflection of the
national economic situation which does not allow the vast majority of the
population sufficient disposable income to purchase a personal
computer.[iii]
Telecommunication Infrastructure
The World Bank's World Development Report 2000/2001 gives a very clear
insight into the lack of infrastructure in the majority of rural Brazil.
According to Table 19, as of 1998, only 12 Brazilians in a 100 have a
telephone, and only 4.7 Brazilians in a 100 have a mobile phone. These
numbers indicate that only a minute fraction of the populace has access
to the telecom infrastructure nationwide. The situation with computers
is similar. Only 2 in 100 have a computer.
There has been an improvement a slight improvement in the situation since
the completion of the telecom privatization process. The new telecom
structure has allowed greater access to telephone lines, and the number
of mobile phones in the hands of Brazilians has exploded.
Economic Issues
The economic situation in Brazil is a profound schism between the haves
and the have-nots. Despite the fact that Brazil has the eighth largest
economy in the world, approximately 32% of the rural population lives
below the poverty line. (WDR - 00/01 - Table 4) Another clear indicator
shows that the top 20% of the population controls more than 63% of the
nation's wealth. This means that 80% of the Brazilian population has
access to less that 40% of the nation's wealth. (WDR - 00/01 - Table 5)
This translates to a very clear economic barrier for the poorer 80% of
the population to access the Internet. This barrier cannot be overcome
easily. It is related to uneven economic growth, regional inequities
within Brazil, urban/rural divisions, and lack of access to educational,
social, financial and other resources for much of the population
Social Issues
In the arena of social issues the barriers to Internet access are clear
and profound. Brazil maintains only a 15% adult literacy rate (WDR -
00/01 - Table 2), and while close to 97% of the population enrolls in
primary school only 66% of the population enrolls in secondary school.
(WDR - 00/01 - Table 6)
It is clear that until Brazil improves its adult literacy rate beyond
15%, it will close to impossible to move beyond this class ceiling in
Internet access. One can see a clear parallel between the adult literacy
rates and rates of penetration of internet access in the top 15% of the
population compared to the rates of penetration in the general
population. (see tables 1 & 2)
Internet Usage and Adoption Patterns
In September 2000, the most recent version of the IBOPE media use report
was published, which outlined the current usage and adoption rates in the
nine major metropolitan areas in Brazil. Only 19% of the urban
population has access to the Internet via a computer, and 48% of these
users belong to class A & B. The interesting change was that the
research data indicated that 1.9 million Brazilians intended to purchase
a mobile phone that allowed WAP (Wireless Access Protocol) to the
Internet, and even more interesting is that the distribution of those
accessing WAP across the social classes is close to even. Of those who
have access to WAP 31% belong to classes A & B, 35% in class C, and 34%
in classes D & E.[iv]
This shift shows that there may be a way to move beyond some of the major
barriers to Internet access. The other major pattern in the research
showed that of classes A&B, 72% of those are male. This would indicate
that the vast majority of affluent women have yet to discover the Internet.
Conclusion
Brazil has vast barriers to accessing the Internet. These barriers
include literacy, education, economic purchasing power, and
infrastructure (telephone lines, etc.). However, we have seen that there
are definite opportunities to overcome some of these barriers. We will
explore some of these opportunities in subsequent papers in this series.
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[i] Elkin, Noah. "Making Low-Cost Internet Access a
Reality in Brazil." Emarketer.
http://www.emarketer.com/analysis/elatin_america/20010209_lowcost.html. 9 February 2001.
[ii] ibid.
[iii] ibid.
[iv] IBOPE. "8ª edição mostrava que 4,7 milhões de
consumidores queriam acessar a Internet por computador".
http://www.ibope.com.br/digital/produtos/internetpop/8pop.htm. September 2000.