Pandemic exposes ‘digital inequality’ in Brazilian internet access

Back in 2000, less than 3 percent of Brazilians had access to the internet. Nineteen years later, this has risen to 74 percent, according to data from the Regional Center for Information Society Studies (Cetic). That puts Brazil far ahead of the developing world (47 percent), as well as the global average (53.6 percent). However, access to the internet is by no means democratic — with coverage and quality varying greatly from area to area.

But with many Brazilians forced into confinement — and remote work — by the Covid-19 pandemic, a new form of ‘digital inequality’ became apparent.

“In the North, entire regions depend on satellite connections, or mobile 3G and 4G. In the Southeast, on the other hand, fiber optic internet is widely available. That already separates these two regions when it comes to speed, quality, and stability of connections,” says Fábio Storino, who coordinates one of the most complete and respected technology surveys in Brazil, TIC Domicílios.

This inequality is exemplified by the household of 22-year-old Thamyres Talyne Oliveira da Silva, from the small northern town of Itaguatins. Her mother...