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Internet becomes an essential service in Chile
Araya explained that the measure only applies to fixed household services
Internet access has become a basic service in Chile, like drinking water, sanitation and electricity, making it eligible for subsidies and other forms of government aid, Santiago reported Thursday.
Telecommunications Undersecretary Claudio Araya explained in a radio interview that the services will now be regulated “similarly to how telephones were in the past.” He added: “People will not be denied service when they are within the service area of a company.”
The new legislation, published Thursday in Chile’s Official Gazette, paves the way for the state to take action and help households afford internet connections, while setting new obligations for providers. “If their network has limited capacity, they have a maximum of six months to expand it (…) If they have to build a new network, they have a maximum of 12 months to do so and they are obliged to provide the service,” the official noted.
He also made clear that the specifications only covered fixed internet, “to protect home users.”
Chile’s Minister of Transport and Telecommunications Juan Carlos Muñoz stressed that such measures were taken to “narrow the digital divide”. The South American country is believed to be fourth in the world in terms of average broadband internet speeds.
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