Spaniards Ask, Is Wireless Internet a Private Business or Universal Right?
This past summer, members of the Spanish parliament blasted the government’s telecom market commission for vetoing Wi-Fi hot-zone projects promised by political parties and funded by city councils. The Senate’s Galician Bloc complained the loudest about restrictions on funding for free urban nets intended to tackle local “digital divides.” This issue has been hot in Spain at least since 2004, when the telecom market commission ordered Barcelona and several other cities to stop funding their free Wi-Fi services because these were said to compete unfairly with commercial ISPs. However, a few months later, the European Commission approved the Spanish government’s €138 million program for subsidizing broadband in rural and remote regions. Such policy divergences led to confusion and frustration, even among public officials. “As long as Internet access is not considered a universal right but simply a market, we will face similar situations,” Barcelona’s Jaume Oliveras commented. Antonio Roj
