The governance of submarine cables is a topic of little discussion throughout the world. More than 300 high-speed telecommunications highways carry 99% of data packets in the world, thanks to a technology mastered by a few private companies. Since the 1990s, this expansion has not been occurring in a homogeneous manner and has resulted in major price differences among countries, depending on the existence of competition in the sector and the expansion of the infrastructure network. After two years of work, the NGO Internet without Borders – Brazil and the Brazilian Institute of Consumer Defense (IDEC), in partnership with FGV’s Rio de Janeiro Law School (Direito Rio), organized the seminar “The invisible routes of the Internet: access, monitoring and common goods”, which will be held on October 31 at FGV’s Main Office (Praia de Botafogo, 190. Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro/RJ).

In addition to FGV, the event has the support of the Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br/NIC.br), the Consulate of France in Rio de Janeiro and the French Institute. This is an unprecedented initiative to deepen the collective knowledge on the governance of this infrastructure, bringing together players from all sectors to contribute to increased connectivity in Brazil, which will receive at least five new cables in the coming years. They include the Ellalink cable, which will connect Brazil to Europe with a greater capacity than all the others currently connecting Brazil and an innovative governance model.

The seminar will be attended by Artur Coimbra (Broadband Director at MCTIC – Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communications), João Pedro Flecha (Executive Director at EllaLink), Félix Blanc (researcher from Internet without Borders), Jamila Venturini (Intervozes),  Michael Stanton (scientist from the RNP – National Research Network), Luca Belli (researcher and professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at FGV), Percival Henriques (member of the Internet Steering Committee), in addition to representatives from ANATEL, Telebras, ITU (International Telecommunications Union), Angola Cables, NUPEF, ABRINT, UNICAMP, Data Labe, Engineering Club, UFRJ, Instituto Braudel, NetRocinha, ETICE (Information Technology Company of Ceará), among others.

Go to the website to learn more and to register.