More than 4,000 Internet Organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean

04/10/2014

The Internet Address Registry for Latin America and the Caribbean (LACNIC) has doubled its membership over the past two years; this month, the organization crossed the 4,000 member mark, announced today Ernesto Majó, the organization’s Executive Director (i).

This significant growth is the result of more than twelve years during which LACNIC and its people have been working to meet the region’s Internet requirements. These 4,000 members that are now part of the LACNIC community include the major companies and organizations currently providing Internet access in Latin America and the Caribbean. The countries with the largest number of Internet organizations are Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, and Chile, in that order.

Today, five out of ten Latin Americans have Internet access. Over the next 20 months, this number is expected to grow until reaching a 60% penetration rate. This involves a great effort on the part of the organizations working on developing the Information Society, added Majó. When LACNIC was created, on average, Internet penetration in Latin America was approximately 10% to 15%.

Majó highlighted that this represents a commitment to providing more and increasingly better services within the region.

By the end of the year, the Latin American and the Caribbean Internet community will have reached 355 million users.

To a certain extent, LACNIC has always contributed to building this Latin American and Caribbean community, which has managed to achieve greater opportunities for representation at global level.

“We want LACNIC to continue to synthesize the regional Internet community’s joint efforts in benefit of our society’s development,” added the organization’s Executive Director (i).

LACNIC has helped the voice of Latin America and the Caribbean be heard at international discussions and forums. In this sense, along with a delegation of top-level LACNIC representatives, Majó participated in the Istanbul Internet Governance Forum (IGF), the meeting that hosts the most important Internet governance debates at global level.