Connectivity has become a cross-cutting political promise throughout Latin America. Yet the region is not starting from scratch: it has accumulated policies, investments, and demonstrable lessons that make it possible to distinguish between campaign announcements, implementation capacity, and measurable outcomes. Every electoral cycle once again promises satellite internet, connected schools, fiber-optic networks, and 5G infrastructure. This convergence reveals that connectivity has ceased to be a sector-specific issue and has become part of the core development agenda. The debate, therefore, should not be framed as a choice between a stagnant past and new promises. The relevant question is different: which policies have delivered progress, where do the gaps remain, and what capabilities are needed to transform connectivity into social and productive value?
What the comparative evidence shows
Research covering 33 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean demonstrates that broadband disparities are closely associated with socioeconomic development. The relationship between internet use and the Human Development Index is particularly strong, while household internet access and mobile coverage help explain significant differences across countries. These findings do not justify attributing performance to a single technology or a single government decision. Rather, they show that infrastructure, affordability, capabilities, and institutional continuity work together.
Regional comparisons also caution against relying on rankings based on a single indicator. One country may achieve high internet speeds in its major cities while still lagging in rural areas; another may expand mobile coverage without addressing affordability; a third may connect schools without integrating technology into teaching practices. The digital divide has at least three dimensions: infrastructure availability, access and effective adoption, and the ability to generate educational, economic, and institutional benefits.
Four trajectories that truly matter
Uruguay is the pioneering case. The Plan Ceibal (2007) combined devices, connectivity, teacher training, and nationwide monitoring. Its most valuable lesson was not simply distributing computers, but creating an institution capable of sustaining and adapting the policy over nearly two decades—even though technology did not produce uniform improvements across all learning outcomes.
Chile has built a long-standing framework of regulation, competition, and fiber-optic expansion. Its experience demonstrates that broad coverage alone does not eliminate gaps in quality, affordability, and productive use. The Humboldt cable, developed in partnership with Google, places digital infrastructure within the broader context of resilience and geopolitics.
Argentina, through ARSAT and Conectar Igualdad, illustrates both the value of public infrastructure and the cost of policy interruptions. The challenge of transforming a national backbone network into affordable connections across the country remains an institutional one.
Costa Rica, through the National Telecommunications Fund and a stable sectoral institutional framework, reminds us that universal service requires identifying beneficiaries, designing subsidies, supervising operators, and evaluating service quality. Regulatory capacity is therefore itself a form of infrastructure.
Brazil: The infrastructure that goes unseen
Brazil must be understood both as a vast domestic market and as an international digital hub. A crucial part of its digital position lies beneath the ocean. Fortaleza, together with other landing points, hosts submarine cables linking South America with North America, Europe, and other global markets. These submarine cables carry the vast majority of international data traffic.
The EllaLink connection between Fortaleza and Sines (operational since 2021) established a direct route between South America and Europe without necessarily passing through the United States. This diversification reduces latency, improves redundancy, and expands commercial opportunities. At the same time, it raises important questions regarding dependence on major digital platforms, the security of critical infrastructure, and digital sovereignty. Connectivity functions as an integrated system composed of international backbone networks, data centers, internet exchange points, national fiber networks, mobile networks, and last-mile solutions. Any policy that addresses only one of these layers will inevitably remain incomplete.
Starlink: A complementary, not substitute, solution
Starlink has gained increasing influence within Latin America’s digital infrastructure. Statistical caution is nevertheless warranted. As of July 2024, Brazil’s National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) recorded just 224,700 Starlink connections—roughly 0.5% of the country’s fixed broadband market. Its real value is complementary, particularly in remote areas, schools, healthcare, logistics, and emergency response. However, dependence on a single private provider raises concerns regarding pricing, jurisdiction, and digital sovereignty.
The technical advantages of low-Earth-orbit satellites are not ideological. A broad political consensus reflects this reality: Brazil, Costa Rica, Peru, and Colombia all incorporate satellite technology into hybrid connectivity architectures. The true test will be whether these promises become technology-neutral, sustainable plans aligned with real implementation capacity.
The pending agenda
The challenge is no longer simply to connect territories, but to ensure that connectivity generates capabilities, productivity, and development. Latin America must complete coverage in rural, Amazonian, island, and sparsely populated regions through hybrid solutions that combine fiber optics, mobile networks, community-based connectivity, and satellites. Yet an expensive, slow, or unstable connection does not constitute genuine digital inclusion.
The challenge is simultaneously technological, economic, and institutional: reducing costs, improving service quality, developing digital skills, protecting data, supervising providers, and linking infrastructure to education, healthcare, public services, and entrepreneurship. This gap is particularly critical for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises. Having internet access does not necessarily mean being able to adopt e-commerce, data analytics, or artificial intelligence when shortages of talent, financing, cybersecurity, and regulatory compliance remain.
From promise to implementation capacity
Connectivity has become a regional political baseline. Precisely because the region has accumulated experience, every new proposal can now be measured against policies that worked, institutions that endured, and mistakes that should not be repeated. Uruguay demonstrated the value of institutional continuity, while Chile, Argentina, and Costa Rica highlight the importance of combining regulation, investment, and universal service objectives. Brazil shows that connectivity depends on invisible international infrastructure.
The real new promise is not simply to connect those who remain offline, but to build institutions capable of measuring outcomes and transforming connectivity into learning, productivity, trust, innovation, and territorial development, as demonstrated by the tech4peace Foundation in Colombia. This promise is less spectacular than a satellite antenna, but far more difficult to fulfill.
Digital transformation creates value only when institutions, businesses, and communities develop the capabilities to govern technology, manage risks, cultivate talent, and foster entrepreneurship. Starlink and other satellite systems can complete the connectivity map, but they cannot replace fiber-optic infrastructure, mobile networks, market competition, or the role of the state.
Now that the region appears to have reached a consensus on the need to connect all its territories, the truly important discussion begins: how to transform universal digital access into shared prosperity.
Autor
Associate Professor at Universidad de La Sabana (Colombia). PhD in Law and Political Science from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Salamanca.
Associate Professor at the University of La Sabana (Bogotá). PhD from the University of Warwick (United Kingdom). His areas of interest are business ethics, digitalization, and the role of the private sector in conflicts in Latin America.
