Brought to you as a public service of the Open Spectrum Foundation (Stichting Open Spectrum), Amsterdam - Prague

VENEZUELA

• "Providencia Administrativa por la cual se dicta la Reforma Parcial de las Condiciones para la Calificación de los Equipos de Uso Libre, publicada en la Gaceta Oficial Extraordinaria N° 5.831, de fecha 20 de diciembre de 2006," (Administrative provisions by which partial reform of the conditions for approving equipment for free use is declared, published in special issue number 5.831 of the Official Gazette dated 20 December 2006), Conatel, in Spanish: updated list of applications, frequency bands and power limits for license exempt radio equipment in Venezuela. Includes CB, Wifi and the 5GHz RLAN bands.
• According to the Spanish version of Wikipedia, "En Venezuela, La Comisión Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (CONATEL), ha decretado el uso libre del espectro radioelectrico en la CB..." (In Venezuela, the National Telecommunications Commission [CONATEL], has decreed the free use of the radioelectric spectrum in the Citizens Band [27MHz].)
• "Cuadro Nacional de Atribución de Bandas de Frecuencias" (National table of frequency allocations, December 2006 version) in Spanish.
• "Pero la buena noticia es que en Caracas y en otras partes de Venezuela hay iniciativas muy interesantes para tener una gran cobertura con WiFi en la ciudad..." (But the good news is that in Caracas and in other parts of Venezuela, there are very interesting initiatives to have great WiFi coverage in the city..." ---from the chapter on wireless technologies (Tecnologías inalámbricas) by Ricardo Olarte in Hardware Adquisición y uso en la Adminisación Pública Nacional, Venezuelan Ministry of Science and Technology (June 2006).
• Venezuela Inalámbrica - appears to be a company that installs WiFi nets and hotspots.
• Latin American Networking School at the Universidad de Los Andes, Mérida (EsLaRed).
• WiFi distance record inspires rural Venezuelans - based on "Wireless technology is irreplaceable for providing access in remote and scarcely populated regions," APCNews in English, 2 June 2006: "On April 13, [Ermanno Pietrosemoli, of EsLaRed]... set a new [WiFi] connection record by establishing a 279 kilometre link in Mérida, Venezuela..."
• "Wireless Technologies in Mérida, Venezuela," by Ermanno Pietrosemoli, presented at the School on Digital Radio Communications for Research and Training in Developing Countries, ICTP, Trieste, Italy, 9-27 February 2004.
• "Alegan que espectro radial es patrimonio de la humanidad," by Juan Francisco Alonsa, El Universal in Spanish, 15 January 2007; the same article in English: "Claims of radio spectrum as humankind heritage," translated by Conchita Delgado and posted online 19 January 2007: "Neither radio and/or TV operators nor states are the owners of the radio spectrum, let alone governments. The treaties and covenants of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) - and Venezuela is a party thereto - set forth that this set of frequencies, where the waves containing information travel, is property of the planet inhabitants. As it is very limited, the spectrum enjoys the status of 'humankind heritage'... In this regard, expert in human rights Héctor Faúndez elaborated: 'The Venezuelan government thinks that the radio spectrum forms an integral part of the state sovereign powers. On the contrary, ITU understands that it is a common humankind heritage and the state has authority only to manage technical issues, but not to regulate the contents of the information and ideas disseminated on the spectrum. This is outside of the state jurisdiction because it collides with a fundamental principle - freedom of expression.' Faúndez labeled as flagrant violation of the American Convention on Human Rights and the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) the developments with private TV channel Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV). President Hugo Chávez announced that the government would not renew [their] broadcasting license by arguing that it was a 'coupster channel'... 'It is so apparent that the American Convention anticipated such situations and prohibited them expressly in the third paragraph of article 13, which reads: "The right of expression may not be restricted by indirect methods or means, such as the abuse of government or private controls over newsprint, radio broadcasting frequencies, or equipment used in the dissemination of information, or by any other means tending to impede the communication and circulation of ideas and opinions."...'
• "Govn't is reviewing legal framework of licenses for private radio stations," El Universal, in English, 27 May 2007: "Venezuelan Minister of Telecomunications and IT Jesse Chacón Sunday said the broadcast licenses for all of the AM radio stations operating in the country have expired and added that his office is currently reviewing the legal framework governing their broadcast licenses..."

Latin America & Caribbean - Regional Overview