Putting 10 Million Students Online in Argentina

Fewer than 200,000 of Argentina's 10 million students now have Internet access. This digital divide is common to most developing countries. But in Argentina, it will rapidly disappear if an innovative public-private partnership is successful. Initiated by Martin Varsavsky, an Argentine who has become a successful Internet and telecommunications entrepreneur in Europe, the partnership launched a national student Internet portal, www.educ.ar, in September 2000. 

The content of the portal will be under the control of the Ministry of Education. The Ministry will use the site to connect Argentina's teachers and students and provide class listings, online registration, homework assignments, course materials, and readings. Every student in Argentina will receive an e-mail address and server space to create his or her own Web page. Both students and teachers will have access to the broader Internet through the portal; they will be able to link to thousands of Web sites, but firewalls will prevent access to undesirable content. 

The Ministry's partner in the portal is a newly-formed private company, educ.ar S.A. The company will manage day-to-day operations of the portal and will have exclusive rights to the portal's advertising and e-commerce potential. The income from banner ads on the Web site, for example, will help to pay for operation of the portal. To tap the commercial value of a portal with more than 10 million potential users and bring in substantial amounts of private capital, the company plans to sell shares through an initial public offering. The funds raised will be used to provide access to students and schools throughout the country. The goal is to have all Argentine students online within four years.

The initiative is expected to increase the number of Argentines with Internet access from about three percent of the population to 25 percent or more. This huge jump in connectivity among young people is expected to give a big boost to e-commerce in Argentina. By ensuring that students graduate well-trained in Internet skills, the initiative will help create the talent pool necessary to enable growth of the e-economy in that country. In long run, Varsavsky hopes, widespread skills and rapid creation of new jobs will lead to more equitable income distribution in Argentina and elsewhere. A number of other countries are already studying the portal to see whether they, like Argentina, can turn their connectivity gap into an opportunity. Equipment suppliers and e-commerce marketers take note.