23 Jan 2017 Portuguese guide to setting up a community internet provider

 Hyperconnectivity is the name of the game. Image courtesy of Binary Images.

A new guide, “How to Create and Regulate a Community Provider”, produced by ARTICLE 19 Brazil in partnership with Instituto Bem Estar Brasil (Brasil Welfare Institute) and ANID (National Association of Digital Inclusion), presents a detailed step-by-step on how to create a community internet provider.

For the time being, Como Montar e Regularizar um Provedor Comunitário is only available in Portuguese.

Openly built and managed by the users themselves, community internet providers represent an alternative form of digital inclusion, and are already used in some regions of Brazil.

They consist of a conventional internet service, the signal of which is distributed to a limited number of people in a fully collaborative manner.

The guide provides information and a how-to on installing a community provider using three different methods: via radio, cable or mesh network.

For each, the guide lists the advantages and disadvantages of installation and maintenance.

It also gives information on regularising a community provider, listing the documents needed and the steps to be taken together with the public agency responsible.

The guide highlights existing legislation in the area, the judiciary’s conduct in litigation cases and presents international human rights standards addressing access to the internet.

In addition, it provides a list of all the materials and services that are employed in the initiative and their respective prices.

Source: Article 19.