I N F R A S T R U C U R E A N D D E V E L O P M E N T P L A N

[URRACA]

E X I S I T I N G T E L E C O M M U N I C A T I O N
I N F R A S T R U C U R E A N D D E V E L O P M E N T P L A N S
D.1. International connectivity
D.1.1. The Regional Central-American network (RRCA)
48. The Regional Central-American Microwave network (RRCA) connects the
countries in this sub-region. In has a capacity of 128 E1 systems. Currently there are 25
E1 free but it appears that the Nicaraguan Telecommunication Company (ENITEL) so
far has not facilitated the use of this free capacity by other operators, which has resulted
in a sanction from the regulator, the Nicaraguan Institute of Post and
Telecommunications (TELCOR)
2
.
49. There is a plan to install a Central-American fiber optic network as an integral part
of the new electrical power network project. If this projects implemented the RRCA
will be converted to an alternative route to guarantee redundancy.
D.1.2. Submarine Cables
50. Nicaragua has access to two landing points of sub-marine fiber optic (FO) cable
systems on the Pacific coast, located at Puerto Limón, Costa Rica (MAYA-1) and in
Mexico (Columbus II), which are connected to the Microwave network.
51. Since about two years, another sub-marine FO cable system, ARCOS-1, lands in
Bluefields and Puerto Cabezas on the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua. Both of these landing
points are provided with Add-drop Multiplex equipment (ADM), which would allow
them to offer carrier services in these places.
52. However, the backhaul to connect ARCOS-1 with the national network is still
missing. Representatives of ENITEL say that they are in the process of technical
planning of the backhaul to Bluefields, approximately 383 km from the capital
Managua. Three are also other actors (data transmission operators, ISPs and cable TV
operators) who would like to construct this link. ENITEL did not take advantage of the
opportunity that was offered to them to connect to the submarine FO cable system at the
outset. Currently the company NICATEL, which has acquired this license, is
negotiating with ENITEL about this issue.
D.1.3. Satellite communication systems Microwave networks
53. Several companies offer carrier services by satellite. Among those are INTELSAT,
SATMEX, New Skies, GlobalStar and General Electric. Nevertheless, is seems that the
offered capacity is limited and consequently expensive.
D.2. National networks
54. Most of the public switched telecommunication network (PSTN) consists of
microwave links, some of which are still analogue. There are also FO and coaxial cable
networks for cable TV and a Multi Access Rural (MAR) Communication System.
Additionally, there is DOMSAT station with some VSATs installed.
There is an international telephone exchange and 85 switching centers at other levels
with a total of 224,283 lines installed (67,826 free) in Nicaragua. 99.3% of the network
is digital
55. . There is no national Internet exchange, nor a national Internet backbone.
D.2.1. Microwave networks
56. The Interurban Digital Ring is the Microwave network that interconnects

In July ENITEL was sanctioned by TELCOR for anti-competitive practices and abuse of its dominant position by
refuse to provide interconnection and access to telecommunication service operators.
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ENITEL’s principal switching centers, located in Managua, León, Estelí and Granada.
57. The capacity of this network needs to be increased and there is a project for
installation of a new FO network to satisfy the current and future needs for transmission
capacity in the capital Managua.
D.2.2. Fiber Optic (FO) networks
58. Presently there are 511 km FO cable installed in the whole country, among those the
Granada-Masaya-Carazo ring and short interurban links, installed to substitute old
copper cable, which was damaged or insufficient.
59. The Managua Digital Ring interconnects the switching centers in Managua and the
satellite earth station. This FO ring doesn’t have the capacity required to satisfy the
growing demand for telecommunication services.
60. ENITEL plans to install this year a new Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) FO
ring for the city of Managua. This network will support IP, data transmission and
telephony and will add 45.000 lines in the capital.
61. The ATM/DSL Metropolitan network (installed by the SIGFA project, see section
I.1) was designed as a communication platform for centralized control of financial and
administrative management of the various governmental institutions located in
Managua.
62. This network connects 4 principal nodes by means of a FO STM-1 (155 Mbps) ring.
La optical fiber has 24 pairs, of which only four are used at present. Each node, with a
capacity of 19 Gbits, offers at least 20 XDSL connections. Currently 32 institutions are
connected with ADSL (2-7 Mbps) and Frame Relay (2 Mbps).
63. As part of this project local networks for SIGFA, are installed in some institutions
and connected to local network, when existing.
64. The SIGFA network comprises a centrally located Firewall and there is some
redundancy built into the FO ATM network. Moreover, there is a contingency dial-up
link at each of the 32 points (56 Kbps MODEM) capable to manage 5 simultaneous
sessions. Soon a back-up system, which was “forgotten” initially, will also be installed.
65. The physical transmission layer of the SIGFA network is managed by ENITEL.
Currently the IP layer is managed by the Ministerio de Hacienda y Crédito Público.
66. ENITEL plans to connect this network with the Managua Digital Ring, which will
increase the number of access points and extend this network to León, Granada,
Chinandega, Matagalpa y Estelí, with financing from the World Bank. Already there is
a communication infrastructure with transmission speed up to 128 Kbps in these cities,
financed by the project.
67. The SIGFA project uses only 40% of the capacity of this network. Naturally
everybody seem to agree that this network could be used also for other purposes, e.g. as
a platform for e-government) and by other operators. However, until now there is no
agreement between the regulator TELCOR, the operator ENITEL and four other
interested operators regarding the conditions for such use The Multi-Access Radio (MAR) network
68. A small rural telephony Multi-Access Radio (MAR) network serves some small
localities in the Masaya, Granada, Rivas and Río San Juan Departments. The limited
channel bandwidth of this system and its quality makes it practically impossible to use
for dial-up access to the Internet.
D.3. Local networks
D.3.1. Cable networks
69. Most of the local networks (Local Loops) are made up of copper pair cables or
coaxial cables. The quality varies a lot. A program for replacement of old cable was
initiated but appears to be frozen since the privatization of ENITEL [1]. This means
that many of the subscribers have access to the Internet only at very low speed
(theoretically (theoretically 2,400 bps – 9,600bps), if at all.
70. In some isolated localities the old cable was replaced by transmission links with
ISDN-B quality standards. Unfortunately ISDN services were not included in the
specification for the corresponding switching centers. Therefore, the potential of this
high quality transmission networks is still not fully utilized [1].
D.3.2. Mobile cellular communication systems
71. Until June two mobile phone companies were operating in the 800MHz band (Band
A) using cellular systems with AMPS and D-AMPS standards. The total number of
subscribers is about 175,000 and their coverage essentially limited to Managua and the
Pacific Rim. None of the operators offers data communication services nor do they plan
to do so.
72. ENITEL indicate that it will initiate its mobile telephony service based on GSM
standards this year (2002) and are licensed to offer this service throughout the country.
ENITEL estimates that it will have 100,000 subscribers by the end of the year 2004.
D.3.3. Wireless access networks
73. There are several companies that offer data communication services by means of
wireless networks to corporate clients, mainly in the financial sector. In general these
companies use spread spectrum technology for this service. This type of connectivity is
also offered in Managua and in most of the Pacific Rim.
74. These wireless networks offer alternatives to the leased lines using copper cable,
which is currently offered by ENITEL. [1].
D.3.4. Cable-TV and Hybrid Fiber Optic – Coaxial Cable networks
75. It is interesting to note that the number of cable-TV subscribers is larger than the
number of fixed telephony subscribers.
76. The principal cable-TV operator, ESTESA, has a high capacity, bi-directional FO
network working at 870 Mhz that offers up to 120 TV channels as well as added value
services, such as data transmission and Internet access. Once the ENITEL monopoly is
terminated (see section F.2), ESTESA intends to offer also basic telephony services.

77. Currently ESTESA has 286 km of FO cable installed in Managua, Masaya,
Granada, San Marcos and Masatepe. In the near future this network will be expanded to
León, Chinandega, Chichigalpa and Rivas. Next year ESTESA intends to cover also
Estelí, Matagalpa, and Chontales.
78. Three Internet Service Providers (ISPs) offer their services through this network and
there are three more who are interested in using this network. The other cable TV
operators use unidirectional coaxial cable networks. [1].
D.4. Summary of the current situation and future perspectives
79. The limited availability of international capacity (bandwidth) limits considerably
the usefulness of Internet services in Nicaragua. Therefore, priority should be given to
the construction of the backhaul to Bluefields to connect ARCOS-1 to the national
network and the construction of the new FO cable network for Central America.
80. In general, the capacity of the national transmission networks is limited and
insufficient to satisfy the demand for telecommunication services. The capacity needs to
be increased and the network should be extended to the large regions in north and east
of the country, where, at present, there is no telecommunication service at all in many
places.
81. Existing development plans generally aim at extending capacity of existing
networks or to extend them only to localities with high population concentration.
82. The planned electrical power networks, the ENTRESA and SIPAC networks,
mentioned in section E, include the installation of Fiber Optic cable for control and
communication, which could be used to extend the coverage of public and private
telecommunication networks. In the SIPAC project this has been foreseen but
unfortunately not in the ENTRESA project. [1]
83. It is extremely difficult for new entrants with limited resources to obtain the capital
needed to construct their own networks in the Nicaraguan financial market. According
to one of the interviewed persons, Nicaraguan commercial banks require securities
corresponding to three times the amount borrowed (assets in plant, own funds and
personal guarantee).
84. The fact that, until the year 2005, other operators than ENITEL are not allowed to
combine telephony with other telecommunication services also reduces drastically the
profitability of and network extension project (see section F.3).
85. It is recommended that the Government makes more efforts to stimulate competition
in this sector and facilitates the entrance of other actors, who wish to construct their
own networks in order to improve the connectivity and increase the coverage. Bearing
in mind the difficulties for local actors to finance investments in networks under the
current financial market conditions, development banks should consider facilitating
loans for this purpose.

I N D I C A T O R S
86. Table D.1 below shows some indicators in the Central American (CA)
countries and in Sweden. For Nicaragua we have obtained information for the year
2002 for the majority of these indicators. The indicators for Nicaragua for year 2000 are
included to facilitate comparison with the other countries, as the World Bank has not
yet published statistics for more recent years.
87. It may be noted that Nicaragua has less main lines per 100 inhabitants (teledensity)
than any other CA country and, in fact, in all Latin America & the Caribbean. The
number of installed lines has increased very little in the last years while the annual
growth of the population is substantially greater (2.8%) than the average for the region
(1.6% - average 1994-2000), which explains why the teledensity has diminished since
the year 2000. Even though the number of mobile phones has increased rapidly in the
last few years, Nicaragua continues to be the country with the lowest total number of
subscribers per capita in the region.
88. Also the number of PCs per capita is low compared to other countries in CA.

An estimate of the number of PCs in Nicaragua in the year 2002, based on the No. of PCs imported, and
considering the life of a PC arrives at some 80, 000 PCs or 1.6 PCs per 100 inhabitants
Estimate by the ITU, based on that each Internet account is used by more than one person. Currently the number of
Internet accounts in Nicaragua is about 17,000.
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E . E L E C T R I C A L P O W E R
89. As shown in the map below, the electrical power distribution networks cover almost
exclusively the southwestern part of the country (the Pacific Rim and adjacent regions).
Fig. 1. Electrical power distribution networks and stations
E.1. Current situation regarding electrical power supply at the
national level
6
•
60% of the population in the Concession Area has access to electrical power.
•
21% of the population outside the Concession Area has access to electrical
power.
•
Approximately 70% of the households the Concession Area consumes a
maximum of 100 Kwh/month.
•
In the non-Concession Area the averagte consumption is 37 Kwh/month.
•
National Electrification Index 48%. (2000)

90. This implies that there are still many localities without any electrical power. This
complicates the development of telecommunication networks, particularly in the
mountainous regions in the center-north of the country.
91. According to ENITEL, electrical power supply in Nicaragua, particularly in rural
areas, is unreliable and very unstable and fault repair time has increased (generally there
is no maintenance technicians in rural areas).
92. According the CNE statistics, in the Concession Area there were 8,818 interruptions
in the electrical distribution network in the year 2001, or the equivalent 18,409 hours
out of service.
E.2. Electrical power projects and development plans
93. CNE is developing a National Rural Electrification Plan, financed by the Canadian
International Development Agency (CIDA). This project is one example of use of
information technology, as this plan includes the creation of a Geographical
Information System (GIS), which will allow them to manage geo-referenced
electrification data.
94. There are two projects for renovation and extension of the electrical power
distribution networks, presently in the operational planning stage.
• The renovation of 580 km of the national distribution network, managed by
the Empresa Nacional de Transmisión de Energía Eléctrica (ENTRESA) and
financed by credits from the Interamerican Development Bank (IDB)
• The new high-power interconnection Mexico-Panama as part of the PPP
program (the SIPAC project), also financed by BID.
95. There are also various rural electrification pilot projects using different types of
power generation, including hydroelectric power and solar power. Among these
projects are the FCOSER/CNE project, financed by the Swiss Government and the
UNDP project NIC/00/G42-CNE with preparatory assistance financed by the Global
Environment Fund (GEF)
96. In June 2002 the FCOSER project had installed about 200 km of power lines that
serve 2,316 households. The objective of the CNE-BID project is to install about 100
km of power lines, which will serve 1,838 households.
F .
P O L I C Y E N V I R O N M E N T A N D R E G U L A T O R Y
F R A M E W O R K I N T H E I C T S E C T O R
F.1. ICT Policy Environment
97. Many of the interviewed persons affirmed that the new President of the Republic of
Nicaragua,
Enrique Bolaños,
is very much aware of the importance of ICT for the
development of the country and assigns high priority to projects in this sector.

98. In 1999, when Mr. Bolaños was Vice-President, the Secretariat for Science and
Technology and the National Commission for Science and Technology (CONICYT)
were established and continues to work under the supervision of the office of the Vice-
President. The considerable number of ICT project, initiated in recent years and
financed by grants or loans from development agencies, bear witness of the priority that
the Government gives to this sector (see section I).
99. The goal of the Government is to invest 1% of the Gross National Income in ICT.
According to CONICYT, about US$ 80 millions per year are currently spent on ICT in
Nicaragua, but precisely where it is invested is not very well known.
F.1.1. Development of ICT national Policies and Strategies
100. CONICYT has developed an outline of a national strategic plan - ALFA – aiming
at reinforcing the Government institutions (see http://www.conicyt.gob.ni). Within the
framework of this plan , it is currently in the process of developing a national ICT
policy. This work includes the establishment of standards and norms. I further includes
the formulation of new laws with reference to electronic signatures, copyright, data
confidentially and security, etc. CONICYT is also revising the current
telecommunication laws and regulations (see section F3).
101. At present drafts of laws with reference to some of the relevant topics have been
prepared. The procedure for these proposed laws to be adopted is the following: the
draft will be presented to the CONICYT members and then to representatives of other
concerned sectors. After having been revised by them, they are submitted to the
President and, finally, to the National Assembly of the Republic for adoption. It is
estimated that this process will take 1 to 3 years.
102. Regrettably, CONICYT has been rather unproductive in the past, possibly due to
lack of political direction during a long period (the Vice-President had to resign from
his office to be a candidate for the Presidency).
103. Thus it was noted that, until now, there has been some duplication of efforts in the
ICT projects and that there is a lack of standards and norms for technical platforms and
for software used in the various projects. This affects adversely interoperability and
increases the cost of training and maintenance.
104. Coordination between the various ICT projects needs to be improved at the
national level as well as among the involved development agencies. The consequences
of the lack of coordination are analyzed in [1] where it is concluded, among other things
that:
“In the absence of national coordination, let alone among IDB and WB Task managers,
each project in Nicaragua set out to resolve,by itself, its connectivity problem ,..........
Consequently, the cost estimates of individual solutions triples those of the neighbor
Costa Rica.....
Precisely these high local connection costs hamper the coverage of the national
territory, as the project budget for communication for each project only covers
Managua and some parts of the Pacific Rim, while together they could easily have

provide a point of presence in all communities with more than 2000 inhabitants....
(Excerpts from [1] translated by the authors of this report).
105. The members of CONICYT, nominated in November 2000, are representatives of
the Government, the universities, the private sector and civil society (NGOs etc.).
CONICYT constitutes, in principle, an appropriate forum for coordination of the ICT
projects and for the development of the national ICT policy and strategy, which is still
missing. The Secretariat employs currently 11 persons, but there is no line for Science
and Technology in the Government budget.
106. According to the CONICYT Director there is a strong resistance to change among
many of the public service staff members.
107. Considering the above, it is recommended that development agencies support the
process of ICT policy and strategy development. Efforts to improve the coordination of
projects in this sector, at national level, as well as at the level of the development
agencies themselves should also be supported.
108. In addition to CONICYT, there is the Coordination Unit for the Public Sector
Reform and Modernization Program (UCRESEP), established to give technical and
operational support to the Executive Committee for the Public Administration Reform
(CERAP). UCRESEP is in charge of the financial administration and accounting for all
the government projects executed within this program. This includes the following
projects, almost all of them with an ICT component.
• Vulnerability reduction and prevention of disasters;
• Telecommunication sector reform;
• Support for the privatization of ENITEL;
• The "Competitiveness" Project– PROCOMPE (development of clusters,
centers for management development and telecentres for SMEs;
• Technical assistance to Modernization of the Economy (including the
SIGFA project and its follow-up);
• Information System for the Civil Service (SISEC).
Brief descriptions of some of these projects are given in section I.
109. Currently UCRESEP has a staff of 12. It does not have a permanent status, given
that it is financed by the World Bank credits for the projects of the Reform Program.
110. UCRESEP, too, is working on the law regarding access to information. It is
contemplating the creation of an office for management of informatics in the public
sector, which would be a permanent government unit for coordination and for policy
development.
111. There are also plans to create government centers to attend to the general
population. This implies creation of physical space, so that representatives of the
various government entities could be located in one single building.
112. UCRESEP has produced a Catalogue of the Government’s Services and
Transactions and estimates that 85% of the transaction is centralized to the capital

where 25% of the population lives.
F.2. Computer literacy - current use of ICT
113. With only some 80,000 PCs in the country, clearly the vast majority of the
population doesn’t have any experience of using such tools. The current government
policy is to apply 15% VAT plus US$ 20 for transaction costs for computer imports.
Although this makes computers expensive, computer imports are comparatively favored
in view of the fact that 5% - 60% import duties are applied to other goods, the higher
figure in case of luxury articles. Only goods of primary need are completely exonerated
from import taxes in Nicaragua.
114. There is a large number of universities, as well as other educational and training
institutions where the students learn something about computers and how to use them.
Some of the private primary and secondary schools also have computer labs (see section
J).
115. There is an increasing number of telecentres and cybercafés (see Appendix 5),
where the population has access to computers and can learn something about how to use
them.
116. Nevertheless, the large majority of the population is still computer illiterate.
F.2.1. Availability and use of computers in the public sector
117. According to CONICYT, the majority of the some 80,000 government employees
are capable of using computers for administrative tasks and many of those who work in
government entities, located in Managua and in the Departmental Capitals have access
to computers and the Internet. The majority of the government entities, located in
Managua have their web sites (see the description of the SIGFA project in section I.1
and http://www.ibw.com.ni)
118. In June 2001, 86 of the municipalities outside Managua were equipped with at
least one computer (see Appendix 4). Additionally, the second phase of the INIFOM
Protierra project, which is currently being implemented, is providing one computer and
one printer to 43 municipalities.
119. However, there is still a need for more PCs in the government entities. Thus, the
there were 8 persons per PC in the central government entities and many of the PCs are
outdated. Due to the lack of standards there are many different makes of PCs, with
different versions of operating systems and a variety of software. All this complicates
the exchange of digitized information and increases the cost of maintenance and
training.
F.2.2. Availability and use of computers in the private sector
120. According to CONICYT, private large and medium size enterprises are usually
more computerized than the public sector institutions. But only 5% of the enterprises
are large and 10% of medium size. In the remaining, (85%,) small (micro-) enterprises
the employees generally don’t have access to computers for their work (though,
sometimes, they may have one for administrative work).

ICT - NICARAGUA
121. Most of the banks in Nicaragua, allow their clients to carry out transactions within
their own accounts and view the status of their accounts and deposits by means of the
Internet. According to CONICYT, relatively many people use ATM machines, in spite
of the fact that many of the machines seem not to be working properly.
122. Quite a few enterprises, institutions, NGOs, media, travel agencies, and
professionals, offer their services and products (information, training, legal counseling,
ICT related services and products, etc.) through their own websites. Out of the some
8,000 private enterprises in Nicaragua, 536 have their own website with “local” or
foreign content, though not all of them are active (see section K and http://www.ibw.com.ni
or http://www.xolo.com.ni).
F.3. Legal and regulatory framework
123. A regulatory body, El Instituto Nicaragüense de Telecomunicaciones y Correos
(TELCOR), was established in 1992.
124.
The General Law of Telecommunications services, adopted 1995 and
complemented by other laws, adopted in subsequent years, govern the
telecommunication sector (see http://www.telcor.gob.ni).
125. The Nicaraguan Telecommunication Company - ENITEL - has the monopoly of
basic local, interurban and international telephony services, as well as on leased lines
until 2005. ENITEL, which was privatized in 1995, is presently owned by the EMCE
(Honduras) consortium associated with SWEDTEL (Sweden) - 40%, the employees -
11% and the Nicaraguan Government - 49 %.
126. There is free competition in the mobile telephony, VSAT, Cable TV, data
communication and Internet services markets. However, the interviewed Internet
Service Providers (ISPs) complained because they feel that the law is not quite clear
regarding interconnection conditions and access to the network and that ENITEL
subsidizes (cross-subsidies) its own PSI (TELEMATIX) and exercise other anti-
competitive.
7
.
127. Drawing on the experience of Peru (and Chile), TELCOR is currently developing
policies, regulations, structures and conditions for the implementation of a
Telecommunication Investment Fund (Fondo de Inversión de las Telecomunicaciones -
FITEL). This fund provides seed money for the development and implementation of a
strategy for rural telecommunications development.
128. This strategy implies that, based on a selection of localities by size of population,
level of poverty and with maximum social benefit and profitability to guarantee
sustainability, through a public offering, operators are invited to make their bid for
provision of at least one public pone in each selected locality. The bidder who asks for
the least subsidies will win the license. The goal is to satisfy the needs in communities
with 500 to 1,500 inhabitants (which is beyond the obligation of ENITEL).
S e t i e m b r e 0 2
7 C s W o r l d B r i d g e A B
2 1 ( 7 3 )
7
In July 2002 ENITEL was sanctioned by TELCOR for anti-competitive practices and abuse of its dominating
position in provision of interconnections and access for Telecom. Service operators.
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ICT - NICARAGUA
129. The seed money will also be used for a pilot community telecenter project (see
section I).
G . T E L E C O M M U N I C A T I O N
O P E R A T O R S
G.1. Basic telephony operators
130. In practice, ENITEL dominates the telecommunication market. Currently it has
150,000 fixed line subscribers. ENITEL offers data transmission services through its
X25 network, and dedicated lines. It also offers Internet services to some 5,000
subscribers through its division TELEMATIX. Tariffs, authorized by TELCOR, are
published at the latter’s website (www.telcor.gob.ni).
131. The concession with ENITEL stipulates that ENITEL must increase the number of
fixed lines to a total of 300,000 by the year 2004. It also stipulates that should provide
all communities with more than 1,500 inhabitants with telecommunication service in
the next five years. ENITEL has invested US$ 2.5 millions in an earth station and 170
VSATs and could use some of these to comply with the above. Most of the VSATs are
still in the store and the chosen technology supports only voice transmission. Some of
these VSAT (10 a 15) are installed in isolated zones but are still not operational
according to one of the interviewed ISPs.
132. ENITEL has not made any major investment for network extensions in the last few
years. Since the privatization of ENITEL the number of fixed lines have increased very
little.
133. In Mach 2002 there was also a total of 54 Internet Access Centers (telecenters or
telekiosks and Internet cafés) installed and operated by governmental entities, NGOs
and private enterprise (see Appendix 5). Some of these offer IP telephony (through the
Internet) which is “not legally prohibited, nor allowed” according to one of the
interviewed persons.
G.2. Mobile telecommunication operators
134. In June 2002 there were two mobile pone operators: Bellsouth and Teleglobo
8
.
Bellsouth, who dominates this service with approximately 170,000 subscribers, cover
the Pacific Rim and adjacent regions and Teleglobo had a license for the rest of the
country. Bellsouth’s tariffs are published at the TELCOR web site (www.telcor.gob.ni).
135. ENITEL has a mobile telephony license in 1,800- 1,900 Mhz band with national
coverage and will initiate this service by the end of this year.
136. GlobalStar also offers mobile telephony communication services by satellite in the
northeastern region where there is no telecommunication infrastructure but has very few
subscribers.
S e t i e m b r e 0 2
7 C s W o r l d B r i d g e A B
2 2 ( 7 3 )
8
En July 2002 Teleglobo’s license was cancelled by TELCOR.
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ICT - NICARAGUA
G.3. Data communication operators
137.
In June 2002 there were 12 data communication operators (see
http://www.telcor.gob.ni). Among those who offer this service through Microwave networks
are DATATEX, SISTEMATICA and ENITEL. For example, SISTEMATICA of
BANCENTRO is a very extensive private network of a bank that offers service also to
third party clients.
G.4. Internet Service Providers (ISPs)
138. Presently there are 17 independent ISPs, registered by TELCOR (see
http://www.telcor.gob.ni). Each of these has their own type of access to the Internet. ENITEL,
which has two routes via USA, offers dedicated lines to the ISPs and end users. The
total number of individual accounts is currently about 14,000 and the number of
connections by leased line is approximately 300.
139. Eight of the ISPs have direct international connections by satellite or, more
recently, through the landing point of MAYA-1 in Costa Rica via the Regional
Microwave network RRCA.
140. However, none of the eight ISPs, who have a direct international connection, has
their own connection to the Internet Backbone. Each of them is, in turn, a client to a
global operator, such as UUNET, Cable & Wireless, Global One, Telescape o
Interpacket. The nine other ISPs resell internally the capacity of the ISPs with
international connectivity.
141. Most of the ISPs have points of presence (POPs) only in the capital Managua and
surroundings. Only four ISP offer service outside Managua, and only two of these offer
their service in a few regional Departments. Approximately 11,000 (78%) of the
individual accounts and some 250 (83%) of the dedicated line connections are in
Managua [1].
142. There is no Internet Exchange (CXI) in Nicaragua and no national Internet
backbone. Some of the principal ISPs have a peering arrangement and are connected by
Fiber Optic cable (1 Gbps) at the national level. This means that in these cases the
national traffic doesn’t have to transfer by the international network.
143. Due to the lack of supply of transmission capacity prices of international links are
high – between US$ 10,000 y US$ 18,000 for the equivalent of an E1 link.
144. To be able to offer services at tariffs acceptable to the individual clients (although
too high for the majority of the population), ISPs are obliged to oversell their
international bandwidth up to a ratio international bandwidth to bandwidth sold
nationally of 1:32, instead of 1:16, which normal practice.
145. Connections with guaranteed minimum bandwidth are available but are expensive.
For example, the cost of a 64Kbps guaranteed minimum bandwidth is US$. 640 -
US$.800 per month. with reference to this situation [1] concludes:
146. “For this reason, in practice the real speed of dial-up connections rarely goes
beyond 4 a 6 Kbps. This limits tremendously the usefulness of local (theoretically) more
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rapid connections using the most advanced modems or DSL and connections through
cable TV networks. Some ISPs plan to reduce this problem using web-caching or down-
stream-only satellite connections” (excerpt from [1] translated by the authors of this
report).
147. 14 ISPs and four public universities have established the Nicaraguan Internet
Association (AIN). If AIN invest in infrastructure prices would be brought down
according to one of the interviewed IPSs.
148. Five of the biggest ISPs - ALFANUMERIC, IDEAY, IBW, Netport y Cablenet. –
have together a total of some12,000 Internet subscribers (86%). Below some of the
information obtained from the four interviewed ISPs is summarized.
G.4.1. ALFANUMERIC
149. ALFANUMERIC is present in the Pacific Rim and in all the Department Capitals
except Puerto Cabezas y Bluefields. All its national traffic is transmitted within its
microwave network. It has to satellite communication providers.
150. According to ALFANUMERIC, which has 68 employees, it is very difficult to
find qualified personnel. The students in informatics engineering, who graduate from
the universities, are oriented towards LANs, but don’t have sufficient knowledge about
WANs and telecommunication networks. There is a lack of qualified manpower for
maintenance of data networks. The quantity of ICT technicians is sufficient but the
quality is low. The technicians have limited knowledge and, above all, lack practical
experience.
151. ALFANUMERIC brings international consultants for the practical training of
their staff. Luckily there is very little turnover of personnel.
G.4.2. IBW
152. IBW has some 50 clients with dedicated lines and 8,000 email accounts. It is
present in 12 Departmental Capitals and estimates that it has a market share of about
35%. IBW's website (www.ibw.com.ni) has links to the government entities websites
and to many other Nicaraguan content providers.
153. Its tariffs for different options are given at its website. For a dedicated 64 Kbps
connection IBW charges US$ 300 per month.
154. According to IBW, Nicaragua has currently a international capacity (bandwidth)
of 34 Mbps downstream and 17 Mbps upstream for the ISPs but the cost of the links
offered by ENITEL is considered too high.
155. The IBW Director is very conscientious of the lack of access in rural areas. He
believes that the only way to provide access in such areas is by means of telecentres,
but that it will be very difficult to sustain such telecentres in thinly populated areas,
where there is presently no telecommunication infrastructure.
156. IBW reckons that the communication costs will be some US$ 100 per computer
and month for a center with 10 computers and a VSAT (in this case GILAT with 64
Kbps upstream and 34 Kbps downstream).
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G.4.3. IDEAY
157. IDEAY manages 30 enterprises with dedicated lines and 60 clients connected by
cable. 1,500 clients have web accounts, 80 clients publicity accounts and some 500
have email accounts. IDAY has a 2 Mbps connection using the MAYA-1 submarine
fiber optic cable network. They reach the landing point in Costa Rica through the
RRCA (2 Mbps). The monthly cost of the international link is about US$ 10,000. For a
64 Kbps leased line ENITEL charge US$ 300 per month.
158. According to IDEAY, the price of VSATs has gone down as the more capacity is
now offered through the by submarine fiber optic systems. The monthly cost for a
VSAT with 2Mbits downstream is now US$ 8,000. Currently there are various
companies that offer satellite communication services.
159. IDEAY has POPs in Managua, Carazo y Chinandega. Their monthly tariffs are:
US$ 8.00 for email and web access, US$ 15.00 for Internet access from 6:00 pm to 7:00
am and 24 hours email weekends and US$ 25.00 for unlimited services.
160. The information available on its website (www.ideay.com.ni) include climate,
movies, editorials, hotel info and yellow pages. On the average the clients access 8
pages per visit.
161. According to IDEAY, the main problem that ISPs face is the very high cost of the
international links. IDAY worries that if ENITEL constructs the backhaul between
Managua y Bluefields to connect to ARCOS-1, the ISPs will have to buy links of 45
Mbps very expensively.
G.4.4. CABLENET
162. The number of CABLENET’s Internet clients has reached some 2,000, in just
about 2 years. The cable TV operator, ESTESA, has approximately 60,000 subscribers.
More than 20% of these asks for Internet services through the cable where this is
available. Internet service by cable (e-cable) costs US$ 40 - US$ 1,000 depending on
the bandwidth.
G.4.5. Summary of the ISPs and their clients’ problems
163. In summary, the following problems must be resolved to increase the supply and
reduce the cost of Internet services.
• “The lack of links from the national network and/or from central areas in the
Pacific area to the two landing points of the ARCOS-1 .....
• The high costs – 10 times those in the USA – of external digital links.
• The lack of an alternative high capacity communication network with national
coverage ....
• The lack of data transmission networks, like ATM, Frame-Relay or IP-
backbone, between the Capital y and the regional Departments, which obliges
each ISP to operate through individual dedicated lines, which hampers economy
of scale.
• The lack of a high capacity CIX (or peering ring) between all the ISPs at the
national level and mutual support arrangements between the ISPs.
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• The absence of local POPs in the regional departments, the mounting of which
would increase significantly the operational cost per customer and therefore is
unattractive for the ISPs.
• The complete lack of adequate and economic solutions for clients or small
groups of clients in rural areas. Again there are no incentives for local ISPs to
implement appropriate solutions.
• The lack of transparency regarding service and price, i.e. even for an expert
client it is difficult to tell what quality of service, within and outside the country
the ISP guarantees and at what price. (Excerpts from [1] translated by the
authors of this report)
G.5. Other telecommunication service operators
164. In June 2002 there were also three radio paging operators, 10 community repeater
operators, four trunk link operators y 250 private radio communication operators. In
addition there are 124 radio broadcast operators, 69 operators of cable TV and 6 public
TV. (Sources: TELCOR and [1]).
H . A C C E S S T O T E L E C O M M U N I C A T I O N S A N D T O
T H E I N T E R N E T .
H.1. Telephony
165. As mentioned earlier, the coverage of the national network is rather limited. 60%
of the fixed telephone lines are in the capital Managua. According to information
compiled from INIFOM and TELCOR, 96 municipalities (63%) are equipped with
telephone main lines, 39 municipalities (26%) have remote access or public phones only
and 16 municipalities (11%) don’t have any access to telephones. A demand study
carried out by TELCOR, indicates that a total of 673 localities were without telephone
in the year 2000 [2].
166. This implies that a large proportion of the population outside the cities does’t have
access even to a telephone line, let alone to computers.
167. Mobile telephones offer a solution in some localities where there are no fixed lines
but, again, only in cities and densely populated areas (the Pacific Rim).
168. Even where the telecommunication infrastructure exists the majority of the
population can’t afford the luxury of a telephone. Many subscribers – nearly 35% - use
their phones only to receive calls and for collect calls in order to minimize the bill to the
fixed costs.
169. Many of those who don’t have their own phones use public phones, of which there
were 3,208 in the year 2001, or use phones of friends. Thus, 53% of a sample in the
TELCOR study use public telephones and another 24% use their friends' phones. [2].
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H.2. Internet
170. Individual access to Internet is even more limited than access to basic telephony
for the following reasons:
• Internet subscriptions cost as much or more than in industrialized countries The
average cost of a 20 hours dial-up subscription is about US$ 25 per month, plus
the cost of local calls already exceeds the total monthly income of many people
in Nicaragua.
• There are POPs only in Managua and in the majority of the capitals of the
regional Departments. In other parts of the country dial-up access has to be by
interurban calls, which costs 3 - 4 times the local calls.
• In addition to telephone lines also computers are needed, which only a very tiny
percentage of the population can afford to buy.
• The quality of the local (non-renovated) network doesn’t permit connection to
the Internet at acceptable speed.
171. As mentioned, even where it is theoretically possible to obtain 64 Kbps or higher
speed connections, the speed is drastically reduced because of the limited available
international bandwidth. Also congestion of traffic in the national network limits the
speed in many places.
172. Thus, “approximately 72% of the municipalities and 42% of the population will
continue without any technical possibility to connect to the Internet by means of the
PSTN. The percentage of people without technical means to direct access increases to
more than 60%, if the situation of the rural population is also taken into account”
(excerpt from [1] translated by the authors of this report).
H.3. Access by means of telecentres
173. One way of increasing access to the Internet is through public access centers. As
mentioned earlier, there are an increasing number of Internet access centers (telecentres,
telekiosks and Internet cafés). These centers enable the population in Managua and a
few other population centers to access the Internet at a more reasonable cost - between
0.80 $US and 1.50 $US in subsidized centers and 1.50 $US up to the extreme of 7.50
$US for commercial centers (see Appendix 5 y [1]).
174. As we have seen, almost all the projects described in section I have funds for
investment in Internet access centers. These telecentres and telekiosks will contribute to
increase access to the Internet and extend somewhat the geographic coverage of such
access. However, in several cases different projects are implementing telecentres in the
same locality, each of them for a specific purpose and client group. Clearly the
sustainability of such centers, particularly in isolated thinly populated areas is very
doubtful.
175. In rural areas or deprived urban areas, shared facilities, such as multipurpose
telecentres, could provide the access to computers and the Internet, that the various ICT
projects plan to provide in schools, health centers, telecentres for agriculturers and
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SMEs and telekiosks for public access to government information.
176. The resources allocated for telecentres in the various sectoral projects would
suffice to cover many more localities if the investments planned for equipment and
software in each of them were used to create shared facilities, rather than each of them
establishing some telecentres for exclusive use of a particular segment of society.
177. The majority the interviewed persons seems to share this opinion. Not
withstanding, Apppenix 6 which lists of 176 centers installed and planned by some of
these projects in 70 of the 154 municipalities in Nicaragua, shows that many of the
municipalities will have more than one of these telecentres.
178. The increasing number of commercial Internet cafés indicates that they are
profitable in areas with high population concentration. In the Nicaraguan context a
telecenter with 10 PCs, with the high costs of Internet connectivity and electrical energy
(air-condition is a must) and paying market costs for personnel and premises, has to
charge a minimum of about US$ 1.50 per hour and computer to be sustainable, if there
are no other sources of revenue generated by the same facility.[1]
179. Obviously, the vast majority of the population doesn’t have the economic capacity
to pay US$ 1.5- 3 per hour for Internet access, particularly when they can’t see any
direct economic benefits from such access. Nor do they have the knowledge and skills
required to benefit from the resources available through the Internet.
180. To enable the poor to benefit from the telecentres, in the first place the users must
be trained. Some of the existing Internet cafés offer free training in the use of computers
and the Internet in order to increase their customer base. The introduction of computer
courses in the public schools will, in a longer perspective, contribute to increasing the
number of computer literates. It is nevertheless necessary to insist on that all the new
telecenter projects must include training for those who need it.
181. Moreover, public services, such as education, health and e-government, have to be
offered free, or at a symbolic price to the poor. This has to continue at least until they
perceive that the use of ICT brings them some tangible benefits, e.g. enables them to
reduce cost of travel to look for information, get and fill forms required for social
security benefits and register property, or enables them to take advantage of vocational
training opportunities. Obviously this requires that such services, which meet the needs
and demand of the population, are developed and made available through the Internet.
182. If telecentres have to offer public services free of charge, for example, to people
below the poverty line and/or to students in the school during half of the time, they have
to apply tariffs for the remaining clients which exceed those currently charged by the
majority of the Internet cafés. This is obviously impossible.
183. One (partial) solution could be that the government (rather than the individual
client) pays the telecenter operator for its use of the center for delivery of public
services. The use of ICT and the telecentres for the delivery such services could, in
principle, improve the service and enable savings in personnel and in equipment. Use of
ICT to support economic activities could contribute to economic development in the
country and, thus, increase the Government’s resources in a longer perspective.
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184. To improve sustainability and profitability telecentres should also offer other
services, such as coffee shop and kiosk business, selling and repair of ICT equipment,
software and consumable, photocopying, administrative support for micro enterprises,
etc. (some of which are already offered by existing Internet cafés).
185. Voice telephony service is another, potentially very important, source of revenue.
Experiences from other countries indicate that revenues from such services contribute
very significantly to make the centers sustainable. To allow for this before the ENITEL
monopoly ends may require revision of the current telecommunication laws and
regulations.
186. However, even if some telecenter services could be offered free of charge or at
symbolic tariffs, the high rate of functional illiteracy (more than 50%) implies that the
majority of people could still not benefit directly from access to ICT.
187. Therefore, the digital divide can only be bridged by means of intermediaries for
many years to come. Such intermediaries (information workers, teachers, lawyers, etc.)
have to convert the queries and oral inputs for illiterates to written words and numbers.
They also have to translate the relevant information and knowledge obtained through
ICT to voice massages. NGOs have an important role to play in this context.
188. Rural community radio stations, associated with telecentres, could also be used as
intermediaries, with the additional advantage that they reach out to rural sparsely
populated areas where telecentres are not viable. In future, voice recognition technology
may reduce this problem and use of computer support, for example in telecentres, may
also improve the efficiency and effectiveness of literacy campaigns.
189. Sustainable telecenter models must be explored which allow the poor to benefit
from the telecenter services and participate actively in the information society.
Telecenter franchise chains or cooperatives could improve the profitability of
telecentres through economy of scale. Micro finance facilities are needed to enable
local operators to invest in telecentres.
I . P R O J E C T S W I T H A N I C T C O M P O N E N T
190. The most important projects with an ICT component, implemented by the
government and national organization, are described below.
I.1. Integrated System for Financial, Administrative Management
and Auditing (SIGFA)
191. The Integrated System for Financial, Administrative Management and Auditing
(SIGFA) was initiated in the end of 1995 with the objective to coordinate standards and
procedures for budgeting, accounting and treasury operations of public funds, as well as
information systems to effectively support the decision making process and internal and
external government control (see http://www.hacienda.gob.ni/sigfa/index.htm).
192. The SIGFA project was initially financed by credits from the World Bank.
Additionally, SIGFA recently received a grant of US$ 3.5 million for acquisition of
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hardware and training plus US$ 2.5 million for the required security systems (back-up
equipment, etc.) from the Netherlands. SIGFA’s technical platform consists of a high-
speed ATM ring. Technical information about the SIGFA network is given in section D
2.2.
193. Currently, all the more important government agencies (32), with headquarters in
Managua, are connected to SIGFA and 23 of them have their own web site (see
http://www.ibw.com.ni). In general, these web sites are professionally designed and provide
information about the organization and activities of the entity. However, all of them are
still passive in the sense that they do not offer on-line interaction with the institutions
(e.g. forms and registers that could be completed on line).
194. The project includes equipment also for other ministries and government entities
and user training. The network offers a very adequate platform for e-government and
the project staff intends to stimulate the use of the network also for other purposes than
financial control.
195. The first phase is now completed. There are 32 institutions, which interact on line
with the central Government and the Budget of the Republic since six months. The
system handles accounting, treasury and budget operation. SIGFA uses ORACLE and
the system comprises already more than 200 registers.
196. The bidding for production servers is now completed. The system will address the
4 levels of administration in the country (from the central government to the
municipalities) in order to decentralize financial management and now it has reached
level 3. For example, the police (level 3), who depend on the Governance Ministry
(level 2), are now using the system in a decentralized way. There is now a
communication infrastructure that reaches Chinandega, León, Matagalpa, Estelí y
Granada, at a speed of up to 128 Kbps, financed by the project.
197. Thus, it could be stated that a Government Intranet now exists, at least partially.
In the agreement ENITEL has undertaken to extend this network to the regional
departments.
198. In May 2002 discussions were initiated with the Social Emergency Investment
Fund (Fondo de Inversión Social de Emergencia – FISE) and the Nicaraguan Institute
for development of the Municipalities (Instituto Nicaragüense de Fomento Municipal -
INIFOM) about the use of the SIGFA network. Both have great needs for the system.
However, to be able to use the software they have to pay a license of US$ 80,000 per
municipality.
199. The Contraloría General de la República has now started to use the system to do
auditing in real time.
200. A system for automated payments of salaries for some government institutions is
being developed. Each employee will have his/her own account, receive his/her
paycheck and go the bank to cash the check. To this end discussion about collaboration
with the banks have also been held.
201. SIGFA has asked the Instituto de Capacitación Centroamericano (ICAP) to
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explore the possibility that universities open training careers for public administration.
202. The project has been criticized for not documenting adequately the development of
software programs but SIGFA is now in the process of remediating this deficiency.
I.2. Pilot project for computer laboratories in schools
203. The Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (MECD) is planning to install
computer labs in 65 schools (16 primary, 47 secondary schools and two vocational
training centers) of the 4,500 autonomous schools in the 153 municipalities of the
country. 57 of the 65 selected schools are located in urban centers and the remaining
ones in rural areas (see Appendix 6). This is a component of the Educational Reform
Project.
204. The labs will have 20 high-end PCs (multi-media), connected to a LAN with
Internet connection, two printers and one scanner. The teachers and students will be the
main users of the labs but also administrative staff will use it to access the central
MECD. However, there will be an average of 75 students per PC in the secondary
schools, which implies that they will not have much access to the computers.
205. In the central Ministry there is an Intranet (Fiber optic cable) with 190 computers
connected (62 with Internet access). MECD would like to extend this Intranet to the 19
Department Divisions of the country (each of which in general has 2-4 PCs), to
facilitate the exchange of information and the management of the education system.
Currently there are about 500 computer users in the MECD in the whole country.
206. MECD is exploring possibilities to connect all the participating schools by VSAT.
The North American Company CyberStar has recently made a proposal for a VSAT
system for this purpose with 19 kbs up-stream and 2 Mbps shared down-stream.
207. This project, financed by the Interamerican Development Bank, was recently
criticized in a local paper, la Prensa. According to the critics the project spends too
much for hardware (US$ 1,300 per PC). The specified equipment is too sophisticated
and expensive in view of the needs of the students and the budget for education and the
sustainability of the approach is doubted, particularly as the idea is to replicate this
model on a large scale.
208. Representatives of MECD defend the project, saying that one should use the latest
technology to enable high-quality distance education and that the difference in price of
computers is not that significant. They nevertheless agree that it will be necessary to
open the labs also to other users to make them sustainable.
I.3. The CONICYT/INATEC Internet kiosks project
209. INATEC implements a project (initiated by CONICYT) with the objective to
install 2,000 “technology kiosks” in Nicaragua (for which there is not yet sufficient
funding). Each kiosk will have 5 PCs with Internet access. Currently 65 kiosks have
been installed up to now (see Appendix 6) and the project will continue until 2006.
210. By 15 August it is planned to install kiosks in 29 more municipalities where there
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will be 3 to 4 VSAT stations, which should be installed in the coming 6 months.
211. The kiosks are expected to be self-sustained. INATEC suggests that they could
charge 10 Córdobas (US$ 0.70) per hour and the kiosks should pay the salaries of the
teachers of the end users. However, in view of the minimum price of US$1.50 per hour
indicated in section H, one have to ask how these kiosks could be sustainable (unless
the staff and the premises are paid for by some NGO).
212. The initial investment for these kiosks is financed by development agencies and
then they will be given to NGOs, universities, religious congregations, etc. to operate as
their business.
I.4. The Agricultural Information System of the Ministerio
Agropecuario Forestal - SIA-MAGFOR
213. The objective of SIA-MAGFOR, is to “develop an inter-institutional, cooperative,
opportune, decentralized and up-to-date agriculture information system which is
accessible for the different actors in this sector as decision support, and to promote
agro-fishery development” (see http://www.sia.net.ni). This is a component of the
Agricultural Technology Project, financed by the World Bank.
214. The strategy includes:
• Institutional coordination;
• Reinforcement of its information systems and development of alternative
mechanisms for the use and management of the current and demand oriented
information;
• User training.
215. The institutional coordination involves awareness building and promotion of the
concept. SIA works with different actors in the sector, signing collaboration
agreements, and forming different committees, which support the SIA team.
Information about some of these projects is available from SIA.
216. The Informatics Unit works along three main axes: a) development of a pilot
information system b) development of a SIA Portal and c) development of alternative
means of access to the system.
217. Presently SIA produces CDs and radio programs. In future the users will be able to
access the information systems through telecentres in rural areas. Shortly. SIA-
MAGFOR will open the bidding for four telecenters, which will be administered by
NGOs or universities (see Appendix 6). SIA is discussing an alliance with INATEC,
who is in charge of the afore-mentioned technology kiosk project, for the training of
their users. Furthermore they are interested in strategic alliances with the PROCOMPE
project and the TELCOR project for rural telecenters (described below).
218. SIA is a four-year project. Presently there are rural agriculture training centers. To
train the end users of the system 50 groups of 20 technicians each will be created. Right
now 50 teachers are being trained to become the trainers of these 50 groups. By the end
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of June 8 of the groups will be connected to this training network. .
I.5. The “Competitiveness Project” - PROCOMPE
219. PROCOMPE was initiated by an agreement between the Central American
countries five years ago. In Nicaragua the Ministerio de Fomento, Industria y Comercio
(MIFIC) is in charge of the project. The overall objective of the project is to improve
competitiveness of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), among other things by
means of an “Entrepreneur’s Development Services” (EDS), based on ICT. The EDS
will include training of entrepreneurs, market information, prices, etc. and, in a longer
perspective, a platform for e-commerce.
220. The agreement with the World Bank, established three years ago, included the
creation of telecentres for SMEs. Now this concept has been changed. Instead of
creating new EDS access telecenters, PROCOMPE considers to reinforce existing or
planned centers. For example, the existing Internet cafés could be accredited for access
to the EDS and train the users in accounting, business administration, etc.
221. The project envisages creating a virtual EDS center, which would offer accredited
training. The members will be able to pay with money or with e-bonuses. A document
describing these new concepts is currently under development and should have been
ready in July this year. An EDS portal is also planned.
222. In a pilot, which was implemented in Masaya, more than 100 SMEs were invited
to attend an ICT demonstration. The responses to a questionnaire administered to the
participants, indicate, among other things, that about 1% of them are prepared to invest
in Internet access. PROCOMPE estimates that about 40% of them would be able to use
Internet (70% had already used Excel, Word, etc.).
223. Continuity and sustainability of the project are concerns. Investment should start
small and then gradually increase as the project advances
224. PROCOMPE feels that there is a need for Internet Points of Presence (POPs) in
large areas of the country and that incentives must be given for IPSs to install POPs in
regions where there presently aren’t any.
I.6. The Health Ministry’s Integrated Information System
(SIMINSA)
225. SIMINSA was promote by the Nicaraguan Health Sector Modernization Project,
of the Asociación Internacional de Fomento (AIF) and financed by the World Bank.
226. The general objective of the Information System is to provide support to the
decision and action planning processes in the administrative and managerial areas of the
Ministry of Health at central, SILAIS, hospital and health center levels.
227. SIMENSA comprises the subsystems for Service Production and Health Situation,
Financial Resources, Material Supply, Health Regulation, Planning. Human Resources
Administration, Investments and Humanitarian Support.
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pharmaceutical products, national doctors, international doctors, a Human Resources
module, an Inventory of disaster periods, an investment module and one for health
programs.
229. In Nicaragua there are 166 health centers, 32 hospitals and 17 SILAIS (Ministry of
Health Units who locally administer the health centers). In Managua, alone, there are 22
health centers.
230. Presently there are 23 pilot health units participating in the implementation of
SIMINSA. Connection with the pilot sites is made through dial-up and the plan is that
all the health centers and the SILAIS should make use of email and the Internet.
231. SIMINSA considers installing part of the financial administration in the SILAIS
and the hospitals. The Ministry of Health (MINSA) will then receive the reports in the
SIGFA format (initially on diskette with the same database structure or in hard copy).
Currently SIMINSA is working on the automated interface with SIGFA. The software
used is the same ORACLE as that used by SIGFA and SIMINSA is already connected
to SIGFA.
232. Presently MINSA has a web server, a mail server and a 64 Kbps Radio-Modem
connection with the Internet. The website is not yet designed but SIMINSA plans to put
the statistics (e-g- the statistics that MINSA presently process for the WHO),
information about health and healthy food habits, etc. on the site.
233. In MINSA there are 344 PCs at the central level, of which 50 are connected to
SIMINSA. In the pilot hospitals there are approximately 134 PCs with access to
SIMINSA. Among the pilot sites are: Nueva Segovia, Granada, Chontales, Masaya and
Managua. In each department there are 4 pilot sites: 1 SILAIS, 1 hospital and 2 health
centers. In Managua the centers are: Hospital La Mascota, Hospital Alemán and the
Centro de Insumos para la Salud.
234. There are eight SIMINSA staff members: one administrator of data banks, one
responsible for development, one analyst, one technical support chief, five
implementers (3 from the ministry and 2 external, who train and assist end users), one
network administrator and one director.
235. One obstacle to the integration of government information systems is the lack of a
unique ID number for people in Nicaragua.
I.7. The TELCOR/ FITEL Rural Telecentres project
236. An Investment Fund for Development of Rural Telecommunications (FITEL) has
been created within the Telecommunication Sector Reform Project, financed by the
World Bank. As part of the strategy to develop rural telecommunications TELCOR is
implementing pilot community information centers in rural areas, altogher.46
Telecentres, located in Post Offices, with 7-10 PCs in each telecenter. 14 of these are
located in Managua (see Appendix 6).
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I.8. Other projects with and ICT component
237. There are various other projects with an ICT component, such as the projects of
the Instituto Nicaragüense de Estudios Territoriales (INETER) and the Instituto de
Fomento Municipal (INIFOM), which use Geographical Information Systems (GIS).
Three are also other telecenter projects (in total some 10 according to [1]). Some of
these are for a particular sector, others are multipurpose telecenter, which are expected
to contribute to reaching the goal of universal access to ICT.
J . H U M A N R E C O U R S E S
J.1. ICT education in primary and secondary schools
238. In Nicaragua there are a total of 5,974 public and 1,614 private primary and
secondary schools. 80% of the students attend public schools. There are hardly any
private schools in rural areas.
239. Public primary and secondary schools usually don’t have any computers for
educational purposes. The MECD will change this situation but only for a tiny
percentage of the public schools. To provide all public schools with access to computers
for education sustainable models will need to be developed.
240. The situation in private schools is somewhat better. The result of a survey, made
by phone calls to a sample of 50 private schools, of which only 50% responded, was
that 80% has computer labs but only 12% has access to the Internet. In this sample the
average number of student per PC was 35. [1]
241. It is important to note that all these schools were located in Department capitals
and that the sample only represents some 5% of all the private schools. Generally
speaking, schools located in rural areas don’t have access even to telephones.
Consequently one cannot infer from the survey that the majority of private schools have
computer labs.
242. MECD shared the opinion of many of the interviewed persons, that there is a lack
of clear policies regarding ICT in education and of standards and guidelines for
equipment and software.
J.2. Technical education and training in ICT
243. The Instituto Nacional Tecnológico - INATEC, is the standard setting institution
for the vocational training in the country.
244. According to INATEC, technical education and vocational training is provided in
288 training centers, of which 37 are run by the state, 4 are subsidized and 247 are
private. In 2001, 94 centers had a total of 75,159 participants in their technical training
programs.
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a variety of optional programming and computer courses (Visual Basic, Visual Fox Pro,
Linux, computer maintenance, Internet navigation, graphic design, web design, etc.).
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246. 70% of the 37 state-run schools have computer labs. The are used only for training
of professionals in use of MS office tools and for training of students in technical
careers related to informatics. In other technical careers information technology is not
taught at all.
247. CONICYT’s strategic plan includes the CETIS (Centro tecnológico de inserción
social) project, which will be implemented in existing technical schools in the
penitentiaries. UNICA (Universidad Católica) will back the diplomas issued so as to
ensure that those deprived of liberty will leave the prisons as professionals.
248. It was not possible to obtain information about how well equipped the private
technical training centers are with computer labs. However, clearly there is a large
number of private centers, including some Internet cafés, which offer computer courses,
but almost exclusively in MS Office applications (World, Excel, etc.).
249. La majority of the telecenter projects described in section I will also offer training
of the users. However, as in the case of training centers, until now the vast majority of
telecentres and Internet cafés and telecenters are found only in Managua and some of
the Department capitals.
J.3. Higher education in ICT
250. There is total of four public universities, 27 private universities and two higher
technical educational centers. 10 universities and higher technical centers, public and
private, are accredited by the Consejo Nacional de Universidades (CNU), which is the
national higher education authority. There are 23 universities and higher technical
educational centers, legally established but not accredited by CNU (see
http://www.cnu.edu.ni). In 1999, the total number of students in the four public universities
was 36,339 [3].
251. All the four public universities have various computer labs, connected in LANs,
except UNA, which only have two small LANs for the administrative area and for the
central library. The number of PCs for education and research vary between about 100
in the UNA with 2,685 students and some 500 in the UNAN- Managua with 17,800
students. [3]
252. Currently there is a project to interconnect these four public universities through
fiber optic cable. All are connected to Internet through dedicated lines and/or dial-up.
The UNI has an ADSL connection with 512 Kbps up-stream. The UNA has only dial-
up connections. The UNAN Managua has a 128 Kbps radio link and dial-up
connections. The UNAN-León has a dedicated 128 Kbps line plus dial-up connections.
253. In the public universities it is mainly the 14% of students, in informatics-related
courses, such as system engineering, computer science, etc., who have access to the
computer labs.
254. The labs are used for learning programming software, such as Visual Basic,
Access and Informix, and tools like Case for Analysis and Design of Systems. They are
also used for teaching and research related to network operating systems and for doing
practical exercises on hardware. Furthermore, some courses include theoretical studies
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of servers, routers and other IP network components. Some of the students and the
teachers also use email to share information electronically.
255. According to a survey, 100% of the private universities with ICT careers have
computer labs and LANs. Teachers as well as students have access to Internet and
teachers have their own email account and share information electronically. [1]
256. It may be concluded that sufficient technicians and engineers in the field of
informatics are produced. Presently, many of the graduates do not find jobs that
correspond to their education. Many of them have to be satisfied with less qualified
work (selling and repairing computers and auxiliary equipment) or work as taxi drivers
or in other professions, which have nothing to do with their education.
257. Nevertheless, according to some of the interviewed persons, there is a lack of
high-caliber ICT professionals, with the required knowledge and experience.
258. The quality of the education is, in principle, controlled by CNU but there is still a
lack of clear criteria and standards for ICT education.
259. The public universities also lack electronic libraries. Considering the limited
budget for education, it is recommended that international development agencies
consider supporting projects with the objective to develop such virtual libraries.
J.4. Availability of personnel for ICT services (maintenance, of
ICT equipment and development of software)
260. In Managua and in most department capitals, personnel for basic maintenance of
computers and auxiliary equipment are available in sufficient numbers. Not
withstanding, as indicated above, there is a lack of people who have sufficient
knowledge and, above all, experience in maintenance at more complex levels and of
WANs, servers, routers and IP networks in general.
261. In rural areas there are very few qualified technicians, even for basic maintenance
of ICT equipment.
262. As indicated above, university-level students in ICT related technical careers learn
some of the principal programming languages. Nevertheless, there seems to be little
indigenous software development, matched to the Nicaraguan context. Generally,
software is obtained from the large North American suppliers (Microsoft, ORACLE,
etc.) or from the equipment vendors.
263. All the ICT projects described in section I have a training component. Among the
staff of these projects there is currently people with in-depth knowledge and hands-on
experience of the equipment as well as software systems they work with.
264. The IPSs staff is generally well qualified and among those who work in telecentres
and Internet cafés there are some champions in use of computers and the Internet.
265. Additionally, there are a few very high-caliber Nicaraguan ICT consultants, who
work for the government and in the private sector. Some of these are also contracted by
international development agencies.
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K . C O N T E N T
P R O V I D E R S
266. At present the Internet content of Nicaraguan origin is rather limited and of little
direct use to the general population.
267. The main content providers are:
• Government entities
• Educational and training institutes
• NGOs
• Banks
• Commerce
• Newspapers and other printed media
• International development agencies and embassies in Nicaragua
(See http://www.ibw.com.ni)
K.1. Government entities
268. Most of the governmental entities in Managua have developed their own website.
However, the content provided is usually limited to information about their
organization, brief descriptions of some of their projects (objectives, achievements and
sources of finance) and to official documents already published in print.
269. The site of the Central Bank and the Nicaraguan Statistics and Census Institute
(INEC) publish statistics of interest to the government, researchers and international
organizations but there is not much information of direct use for the population at large.
The Central Bank also maintains a virtual library at its website.
270. It is important to note that many of the government registers are not yet
digitalized. Many of them comprise information of interest and direct use for the
general population. Their digitalization could improve the efficiency and transparency
of the government and facilitate substantially the life of many people (if they had access
to the Internet).
271. As indicated in section I, there are several projects, which include digitalization of
registers and other information resources. CONICYT is in the process of making an
inventory of digitalized information sources but this is not yet available.
272. With the objective to identify digital and non-digital information resources a
questionnaire was sent to 12 organizations. Regrettably we only received response
from two of those (see Appendix 3).
273. Nevertheless, through the interviews we learned that there are many other registers
kept by Governmental organizations municipal authorities in digital form (text files,
databases, spreadsheets, etc.) or manually.
274. For example, the Supreme Court of Justice is keeping a trade register in ORACLE,
which includes the name of the business, when established, assets and financial
information and the police keep the drivers’ license register. Another example is the
current project to digitalize the real estate owners register. Municipal authorities keep
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registers on births, marriages, etc., in electronic form or manually.
275. Most of these registers and other sources of information are not accessible at a
distance due to lack of ICT infrastructure. As earlier indicated lack of national
standards, including a personal ID number, is also a major obstacle to exchange of
digitized information.
276. We have seen that development agencies contribute to the digitalization of
information resources and the development of an ICT infrastructure to facilitate the
exchange, processing and public access to such resources.
277. However, there is lot more that needs to be done. Digitalization of information
recourses continues to be an area where external assistance could have a very positive
impact, by improving the government’s the efficiency and transparency. National
standards and guidelines for equipment as well as for software should be developed
quickly to avoid further fragmented development.
K.2. Education and training institutes
278. There are some 10-20 educational institutes, mostly universities, which have
websites with information about their institute and programs. At present there is no
training material available on-line, let alone interactive distance learning courses.
279. We recommend that universities initiate development of resources for distance
education and vocational training courses, including support material for literacy
campaigns (and/or adaptation of existing resources to the Nicaraguan context). Such
resources would contribute to improving education in public schools and extend this to
population groups who presently don’t benefit from any education. Moreover,
providing schools with computers without making use of such resources seems
wasteful. This is another area where assistance from development agencies is needed.
K.3. Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)
280. NGOs are making available a considerable amount of information and support
material though their websites (documents, guidelines, meeting points, etc.) on subjects
related to human rights, health, AIDS, democracy, promotion of women, protection of
children, community development, etc. There are also NGOs that supports the
agriculture sector or other economic sectors.
281. In this category one will also find some sites devoted to cultural and religious
events and in the Central Bank’s virtual library; for example, one can access the
complete works of the national poet Ruben Darío.
K.4. Banks
282. Most of the banks have their website with information about their services. Some
of them allow their clients to consult and transfer money between their own accounts,
through the Internet
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K.5. Commerce
283. Out of the some 8,000 private enterprises in Nicaragua, 536 have their own
website with “local” or foreign content, though not all of them are active. Many of these
websites are hosted and managed in other countries. Within this category there is a
number of travel agencies, which have a considerable amount of information and
pictures from Nicaraguan tourist sites, in addition to information about their services.
This is doubtless “local” content but the target group is mainly foreigners. In addition,
there are some Nicaraguan sites with entertainment (music, etc.)
284. Not surprisingly, e-commerce is very limited. Presently some 6 companies offer
electronic commerce (B2B and B2C), mainly companies, which sell or offer services
related to ICT or luxury shops like jewelleries.
285. Most of the current users may in fact be more interested in foreign than in local
content. Many of them are the affluent members of society who make business with
foreign countries and buy goods from foreign countries through the Internet.
K.6. Newspapers and other printed media
286. Some Nicaraguan daily newspapers and journals have their own websites. At least
two of them provide access to a digital version of their paper to those who have access
to the Internet. These sites also have classified ads (sell and buy ads, etc)
K.7. International Development Agencies and embassies located in
Nicaragua
287. The content of International Development Agencies’ and embassies´ sites include
include information about their organization (or country in the case of embassies) and
their activities in Nicaragua. Most of the sites also have links to other national and
international sites, some of which there are of interest to the general population.
L . S U M M A R Y C O N C L U S I O N S
288. There is a political will to develop ICT in all sectors of the country. The political
environment and the attitudes to ICT of high-level Government officials are generally
favorable. One evidence of this is this significant number of ICT intitiatives described
in this report.
289. The most important obstacles to rapid development of ICT in Nicaragua are:
• The economic situation of the country, characterized by a chronic Government
budget deficit and a very significant proportion of the population, who lives
below the poverty line and, thus, don’t have the means to benefit from the use of
ICT under present market conditions.
• The lack a national ICT policy and lack of coordination between the national
ICT projects. This results in a fragmented development in isolated sectors,
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duplication of efforts, problems of interoperability and exchange of registers and
databases as well as in high maintenance and training costs.
• The insufficient capacity of international transmission links, which reduces
considerably the speed of connections and, hence, the utility of the Internet. It
also results in high communication costs for the ISPs and their customers.
• The lack, or insufficiency of telecommunication infrastructure at the national
and local levels in many parts of the country. This means that a large proportion
of the people either doesn’t have access to a telephone line at all, or have only
access to low-quality lines, which don’t allow for Internet connection at an
acceptable speed.
• The fact that most people lack the skills and knowledge required to use
computers and the Internet.
• The lack of content of relevance and direct use for the population at large, which
results in a low demand for ICT services.
290. All these obstacles need to be eliminated or reduced to achieve a harmonious
development of ICT in the country. Should any of them be ignored, the digital divide is
likely to continue to grow.
291. In the short term, the construction of the backhaul to ARCOS-1 would have a
direct positive impact, reducing the cost of international links and, thus, improve the
accessibility to Internet. However, investments are also ugently needed to increase the
capacity and extend the national network to solve the problems of connectivity and
access.
292. The private sector should build and operate the networks but the international
development banks should consider helping them to find the capital needed. The
Government may need to revise current telecommunication regulations to eliminate the
still reaming obstacles to free and fair competition in this sector.
293. The SIGFA project has made considerable progress in improving the financial
management of the Government. This contributes to improve the efficiency and
transparency of the Government. The SIGFA high-capacity network could also serve as
a platform for e-government services, first giving access to such services to the people
in Managua (where 25% of the population lives) and, in the near future, to the
population in the departmental capitals.
294. To achieve universal access (or get closer to this goal), local Internet POPs should
be established in all the departments of the country. This would provide and incentive
to establish telecentres in these capitals and in adjacent rural areas and, when
sustainable models have been developed, in all municipalities of the country. To
achieve a larger geographical coverage of telecentres in the short term, the various
projects, which have funding for this should make concerted efforts to create shared
multipurpose community telecentres.
295. To further stimulate the establishment of telecentres, the Government should
explore possibilities to reduce the cost of communication and computers and to increase
the profitability of telecentres (e.g. allow for mixed telephony and Internet services in
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public telecentres in rural and isolated areas). The long-term goal should be to develop
telecentre models that can be sustained in all municipalities of the country.
296. Improved access and the existence of e-government, including public services,
such as education and health, which meet the needs of the nation and its people, would
increase the demand for Internet services. This, in turn, would generate more content
relevant to the needs of the general population. Nevertheless, in view of the high rate of
functional illiteracy, it is necessary to provide access to ICT services by means of civil
society organizations (NGOs) or other intermediaries. Without intermediaries the use of
the e-government and other ICT services will remain the privilege of a minority of the
population.
297. To realize this vision it is necessary to develop relevant content and adapt the
Government’s administrative routines and processes. This should improve the quality
and efficiency of the public service, like education and health. Administrative
transactions will be facilitated for the government as well as for private enterprise
(including SMEs) and for the general population.
298. Development of content and infostructure must go hand in hand with the
development of the infrastructrure. Further digitalization of government information
resources and the integration of these into one comprehensive government information
system is one of the challenges. Considerable progress has been made and content
development continues in the various ICT projects but much remains to be done.
Development and adaptation of distance learning material, including support material
for literacy campaigns is another challenge, which has not yet been dealt with. All this
is an area where assistance from development agencies continues to be very useful.
299. The fact that the Government has charged the CONICYT with the development of
a national ICT policy is a good sign. However, the slow progress, so far, indicates that
development agencies’ support to accelerate this process would be very useful, if not
necessary. More efforts to improve coordination between ICT projects, both at national
level and among the international development agencies involved are required.
300. The existence of a national ICT policy is a condition for the harmonious
development of ICT in Nicaragua. To support the development of a national ICT policy
should therefore be the first priority.
Bibliography
[1] Draft e-Readiness report (www.eready.org.ni)
[2] Demand study (Estudio de demanda de) TELCOR – January 2001
[3] Quick Scan Survey, Sida TuDelft, February 2000
[4] Pilot survey of Mozambican digital information resources, Stadskontoret, May
2002 (Sida study).
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September 2002
7 C s W o r l d B r i d g e A B – O r g . n r . 5 5 6 5 7 6 - 7 8 2 8
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APPENDIX 1- TERMS OF REFERENCE
Consultancy Services for Country ICT Survey for Nicaragua
1. BACKGROUND
Sida supports the rapid integration of ICT in developing countries in order to improve
communications and the exchange of information. Sida’s policy is outlined in the
document “Strategy for IT in Development Cooperation” (see http://www.sida.se)
During 2001 and 2002 Sida has commissioned a number of Country ICT Surveys for
countries where Sida either supports the development of ICT or where discussions have
started on possible support. Such surveys have been made for Rwanda, Tanzania,
Mozambique and Sri Lanka.
The Country ICT Surveys include information regarding key ratio, connectivity, access,
the human resource situation, key institutions, policy and regulatory framework. Such
information is of great value to provide all stakeholders in the developing countries
with comprehensive information of the ICT situation for the planning of future ICT
related projects.
No comprehensive Country ICT Survey has been made for Nicaragua. During the first
half of 2002 Cámara de Indústrias de Nicaragua (CADIN) will perform a limited
eReadiness Assessment as part of its project to formulate a business plan for a National
Development Gateway.
2. OBJECTIVES
To provide stakeholders in Nicaragua, as well as the Swedish Embassy in Managua
and units of Sida, with information and assessment of the ICT situation in
Nicaragua as a basis for the ICT policy processes and the planning of ICT related
development activities and foreign assistance to such activities.
3. SCOPE OF THE SERVICES
The Consultant shall make a Country ICT Survey for
Nicaragua. The survey shall
include:
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•
a description of the ICT situation, and
•
a basic analysis of factors of major interest for the promotion of use of ICT for
development purposes.
The descriptive part shall cover items and questions set out in Appendix 1 “Questions
and areas to be covered”. The description shall include information on forecasted
changes and developments in the near, where applicable. Key data shall be gathered as
completely as may be reasonable in terms of cost and time and be summarized in an
Appendix (see Key Ratio in Appendix 1).
The analytical part shall be seen as a first step to identify major areas of interest for a
dialogue beteen Sida and the country concerned on possible support to ICT
development. It should address the following questions:
•
Which major trends and possible initiatives can be observed in the country
regarding the use of ICT?
•
Which are the main obstacles for increased use of ICT?
•
Which are the main opportunities to increase the speed of ICT integration?
•
Which type of interventions would be most strategic for development
cooperation?
5. METHODOLOGY
5.1 METHODOLOGY
The Survey shall be made in close cooperation with stakeholders in the country where
the study will take place. Local contractors should preferably be subcontracted.
Data gathering for the survey is supposed to be done from sources
availableinternationally and from a field visits. Such a field visit is estimated to be 2-3
calender weeks.
6. REPORTING
6 . 1
WR I T T E N R E PO R T S
The following reports will be produced in Spanish by the consultants, and be delivered
to Sida in electronic format
Draft Country ICT Survey
Country ICT Survey and Summary
The Country ICT Survey is expected to be approximately 40 pages, a summary
approximately 4 pages.
Name of key persons and other relevant institutional data (size, ownership etc. must be
listed in the reports).
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Sources must be given for key ratio.
APPENDIX 1
Questions and areas to be covered
POLICY ENVIRONMENT
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
IT awareness
Where in the process of formulating a national ICT policy or the equivalent does the
country stand? What steps have been taken, when?
Computer literacy
What level of computer literacy/ awareness exists in the key segments of society
(central government administration, financial sector, private business, universities)?
Regulatory environment
What kind of political and regulatory framework exists concerning the regulation of
telecommunication operators, Internet Service Providers, data communication to and
from the country…?
What changes could be expected in the near future concerning regulatory matters as a
result of decisions, plans and discussions?
CONNECTIVITY/ACCESS
Presence of national Internet exchange
Is there an Internet exchange present in the country or is the Internet traffic
channelled through the USA or Europe?
The Internet market from an Internet user perspective
Number of Internet Service Providers? Key data on major ISPs. What kind of
services do they offer? What is the price for the services offered? In what parts of
the country are services of different qualities and prices offered?
The fixed line telecommunication from a user perspective
Number of operators? Key data on operators. What kind of services do they offer
that is relevant for data communication (dial-up connections, ISDN, DSL...? What
is the price for these services? In what parts of the country are services of different
qualities and prices offered?
The mobile telecommunication market from a user perspective
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Number of operators? Key data on operators. What kind of services do they offer?
What is the price for these services? In what parts of the country are services of
different qualities and prices offered?
•
•
•
•
•
The market for data communication media other than telecommunication
networks from a user perspective
Do other alternatives for connections to national or international ISPs exist
(satellite, Bush radio, cables etc)? What are the costs? What kind of permissions is
needed (if needed) for direct external communications?
Access to IT services (maintenance, software development)
Access to electricity in the countryside
Identify the geographical areas covered by fixed electricity networks. Information
on the forecasted expansion rate for the next few years.
HUMAN RESOURCES
Higher ICT education
Number of universities and higher education institutions with education programmes in
ICT. Key data on institutions and the education programmes (focus, quantity, quality,
and facilities)
Training of ICT technicians
Number of institutions for the training of ICT technicians? Key data on institutions and
the training programmes (focus, scope, quantity, quality, and facilities)
•
•
•
ICT education at primary and secondary school level
Information on ICT education in primary and secondary schools
INSTITUTIONS
Identify the commercial stakeholders in the different markets (fixed line
telecommunication, mobile telecommunication, data traffic, other data
communication media, ISP/retail, ISP/major customers).
Presence of major domestic and multinational companies delivering ICT services,
ICT hardware and ICT software.

ICT - NICARAGUA
Identify the public stakeholders and their roles (ministerial level, government
administration for telecommunication regulations, telecommunication operators,
universities and other higher education institutions with ICT education etc)?
Description of the stakeholders (size, experience capacity)
•
• Identify other stakeholders as a local chapter of the Internet Society or other similar
organisations, professional organisations and individual champions.
LOCAL CONTENT DEVELOPMENT
Software and content development produced locally
Quantity and quality of local websites and other related IT services (government
information, libraries, e-commerce, portals and gateways)
KEY RATIO
Key data to be gathered:
Operators
Number of fixed lines telecom operators
Number of mobile line telecom operators
Number of Internet Service Providers (ISPs)
Possible alternative suppliers of bandwidth
Number of Internet Point of Presence (total amount, in how many cities)
International bandwidth
Number of cities with local modem pools for dial-up
Users
Number of fixed lines
Number of fixed lines per 1000 inhabitants
Expansion rate: number of new lines a year (present situation, plan for next coming
years)
Percentage of digital switchboards
Number of mobile phone subscribers (divided on operators)
Geographical coverage of mobile networks
Number of mobile telephone subscriptions per 1000 inhabitants
Expansion rate: number of new subscriptions a year (present situation, forecasts)
Number of Internet subscriptions
Number of Internet subscriptions in the capital (and other major cities)
Number of Internet subscriptions per 1000 inhabitants
Number of new Internet subscriptions last year
Number of Internet hosts
Number of Internet hosts per 1000 inhabitants