科技英语新闻:Brazilian plan to disseminate internet access underway

BRASILIA, March 15 (Xinhua) -- A nationwide program aimed at providing internet access to 80 percent of the country's population by 2014 is forging ahead in Brazil, Communications Minister Paulo Bernardo said on Tuesday.

The National Broadband Plan (PNBL), with participation of 13 ministries, is coordinated by Bernardo, who explained details about the project on Tuesday along with Joao Santana, president of Telebras, the state-owned enterprise responsible for managing the project.

The authorities have criticized companies that offer internet service for failing to spread internet use in Brazil, offering an expensive service with prices amounting to about 50 U.S. dollars monthly, inaccessible to low-income families.

"We ended 2010 with 34 percent of Brazilian households with Internet access, and service is also very poor. Almost half of connections are of 256 mbps. We are out-of-date, with the aggravating circumstance that the connections are very expensive," Bernardo said.

To speed up the process, the government started negotiating with concessionaire phone companies to improve the service quality and lower the price to about 30 reais (18 dollars), which would allow 80 percent of the population to access internet.

"During (former president) Lula da Silva's government, we developed a program to interconnect all schools with internet access, but we also want the private sector to do its share," he said.