Governmental initiatives to promote digital inclusion can bring internet to 80% of the Brazilian population until 2010.

The forecast was made by the minister of Science and Technology, Sergio Rezende, on last Friday (26), during an interview at Empresa Brasil de Comunicação – EBC (Brazil Communication Enterprise).

“We estimate that until 2010 we will have 80% of the Brazilian population accessing the internet regularly. This is the global aim”, says the minister.

The intention is to triplicate the number of Brazilians accessing the net,  from 60 million to 150 million users.

According to the minister, the government has been investing in building “telecentros” in poor communities, raising the number of labs in public schools and the connection of this computers with the internet. The plan is to invest R$ 40 bi more until the end of Luis Inacio Lula da Silva’s mandate.

29/09/08

As iniciativas do governo para promover a inclusão digital podem levar internet à 80% da população brasileira até 2010.

A previsão foi feita pelo ministro da Ciência e Tecnologia, Sérgio Rezende, na última sexta-feira (26) durante uma entrevista no estúdio da Empresa Brasil de Comunicação (EBC).

“Estimamos que até 2010 teremos 80% da população brasileira acessando regularmente a internet de uma forma ou de outra. Essa é uma meta global”, afirma o ministro em declaração repercutida pela Agência Brasil.

A intenção é triplicar o número de brasileiros com acesso à rede, passando dos atuais 60 milhões para no minímo 150 milhões de usuários.

De acordo com o ministro, o governo tem investido na construção de telecentros em comunidades de baixa renda, ampliação dos laboratórios em escolas públicas e na conexão desse computadores com a rede através do “Programa Banda Larga na Escola”. Além disso, o plano nacional de inclusão social e digital ainda prevê mais de R$ 40 bilhões em investimentos até o final do mandato do presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Durante a entrevista, Rezende apontou as iniciativas como prioridade do Ministério. Lançado no início do mês, o “Programa Banda Larga na Escola” tem sido feito através de uma parceira do governo com empresas de telefonia.

By Betsy Schiffman September 16, 2008       Wired.com

Cable looks like a decent place to park your money in the event of a catastrophic market meltdown. The logic is this: People like TV. They don’t want to give it up even if the economy is going to hell in a handbasket. Actually, they may be less willing to sacrifice it in a recession, according to some Wall Street analysts. And even if cable operators won’t grow gangbusters, they may not bleed subscribers — unlike other businesses.

“Generally speaking, incumbent cable providers are better protected [from the economy] than other businesses for a couple reasons. The only competitive pressures they have are coming from Verizon and AT&T, and they don’t have the scale to pose a serious threat yet,” says Chris King, an analyst with Stifel Nicolaus. “And as Americans, we would rather cut off our arms than cut off our TV service.”

In a major market downturn, there aren’t many sectors that will escape unscathed. And there’s some expectation that if people are forced to trim spending, they will give up premium cable TV services such as HBO. But generally speaking, cable providers have proven more resilient to the market downturn than telecom competitors. (Both AT&T and Verizon posted dismal broadband growth last quarter, before this little financial crisis really took hold of the market.)

And among all the cable players, Comcast, like a cockroach, is perceived as a tough company and a safe bet in an economic storm, says Bernstein Research analyst Craig Moffett. But that also means that the stock is a little rich — or at least it was before the market opened today.

“Cable stocks are enjoying a banner year in this extraordinarily tough market,” says Moffett. “But there has been much more separation between the cable stocks than in prior years … And for many investors, Comcast is the cable industry.”

In theory, investors like Comcast better than Time Warner Cable because it’s not being chased out of New York City by Verizon, which is in the process of rolling out FiOS, a high-speed fiber internet and television service throughout the city.

Another reason why Time Warner Cable may be cheaper than Comcast: Wall Street thinks that the company’s financial goals are a little aggressive, which means it could disappoint, and that means the stock is cheaper.

Of course, Time Warner Cable may have looked cheaper yesterday. As of publishing, Time Warner Cable shares were only down 3.5 percent year-to-date, while Comcast was down roughly 25 percent for the last eight months.

“Cable isn’t going to be immune from the general market, but [the industry] has performed better than telecom,” says King.

OLA AHLVARSSON PRESENTS SIME AND RESULT

RESULT BRAZIL

By PETER SVENSSON, AP Technology Writer Wed Sep 3