Banda larga, cultura e desenvolvimento [Broadband, culture and development]

In 2010, Brazil defined its National Broadband Plan (known as PNBL - Plano Nacional de Banda Larga). Broadband connection has been acquiring primal importance to the organization of productive processes, commodities, money circulation and cultural organization. The internet speed connection that allows us real-time transmission of data, audio and video is an essential factor for most economic and social processes. Universal access, considered an important element in the consolidation of a digital culture, is a typical issue for developing countries due to high costs and economic conditions of the low-income stratum. Thisstratum, without real public policies, are expected to remain excluded from this process, thus, the old dilemmas of developmentalism return. In this paper we defend the view that the universalization of broadband connection needs to be at the core of a wider public political discussion related to cultural democratization.