National ICT Policies
Chile has reached its position at the forefront of ICT in its region by maintaining a proactive approach to this field. Chile was one of the first nations in Latin America to begin deregulating its telecom industry in the early 1990s to increase competition and make this sector more efficient. Since then it has continued to push forward with multiple initiatives aimed at increasing the use of information and communication technologies.
Early on Chile recognized that if ICT was to become an integral part of the nation's economy and way of life, it would have to reach a critical mass. This included extending its availability to the most marginalized pockets of the population, the rural poor. One initiative aimed at achieving just that was the Telecommunications Development Fund. This program provided subsidies to private firms that agreed to expand their telecommunications services into remote, poor areas of the country. Another plan was the Enlaces Project, which was established in 1992 to connect 350 public schools through a WAN in order to bring computer applications directly to these students. This program served to enrich school curriculums however, connectivity costs were high for these institutions and many schools had to reduce usage because of high monthly fees.
Most recently, the Chilean government has pushed for a plan that would convert Chile into a digitized nation by 2010. A consortium of government agencies, academic institutions and firms from the private sector came together to develop a vision for Chile . In February of this year the Digital Agenda was introduced. The plan comprises 34 initiatives across 6 action areas, which include: access, e-government, education and training, ICT industries, businesses and legal and regulatory framework [3].