The Chancay-Huaral Valley is a coastal district of Peru with many small farms, 95 per cent with less than 10 hectares of land. The district has great economic potential due to fertile land, abundant water and proximity to the markets of Lima and northern Peru, but farmers have been unable to capitalize on this. A major hurdle has been their inability to adjust agricultural production to market fluctuations due to poor communications. Other problems incurred by poor communications include inefficient management of the river waters for irrigation and limited access to public services for citizens of the region.

A rural wireless broadband network was originally established to communicate the water flow schedule for local irrigation systems, to make agricultural information available to farmers and to give Internet access to schools; it is now widely used for VoIP.

The network connects 14 telecentres, 12 of which are interconnected by point-to-point standard 2.4 Ghz WiFi links of between 4 km and 10 km; a longer link, of 20 km, uses a wireless connection operating in the 900 MHz band. One telecentre acts as the main hub and provides connections to the fixed network and to the Internet.
The telecentres, located in the premises of the local farmers association, each have up to six computers using open source software.

The transmission infrastructure (antenna, radio and mast) at each node costs between 1,200 USD and 1,500 USD. The total cost of the project was 166,000 USD, which included the acquisition and installation of a small 2 KW water powered generator in one of the villages that did not have any electricity. The universal access fund provided 105,000 USD, the Ministry of Agriculture 50,000 USD and the local farmers association 11,200 USD.
The systems have been installed with active participation of the local farmers association (which look after irrigation). Technical assistance has been provided by an NGO (the Centro Peruano de Estudios Sociales). This has given ICT training to many young people who have then been able to take ICT jobs.

Initially the only service offered on the network was Internet access; there was no licence to provide telephony. However, VoIP is used for communications between sites for control and management. Also, there is now a PBX with a prepaid platform that offers phone services and connects to the fixed network of the incumbent service provider. There were problems with achieving useful interconnection: the regulator allowed rural network operators to set their own tariffs and the incumbent service provider to set interconnection rates, with the difference between the two being the revenue of the rural network operators, but the incumbent service provider, claiming technical problems, did not program their payphones with the rates and required that calls to the rural networks use prepaid cards (which many people found too expensive to buy and difficult to use, because of having to input long series of digits).

Source: http://www.ictregulationtoolkit.org/en/PracticeNote.aspx?id=3177

According to experts, the freshness of the fish and the seafood is what creates cebiche, a freshly caught fish and seafood mixed with purple onions, lemon juice, salt, and a touch of chili pepper.

Sweet potato and corn accompany this dish, considered a real luxury that the Peruvian coast offers.

Source: http://www.andina.com.pe/Ingles/Noticia.aspx?id=gqp/z6H3ghI=

Peruvian exports to Ecuador are showing signs of recovery as they totaled US$ 271.4 million in the first four months of this year, a 64 percent increase compared to same period in 2009, the Peruvian Exporters Association (Adex) announced Sunday.

Adex pointed out that this growth was mainly driven by increasing exports of oil derivatives and a recovery in non-traditional products.

The oil and its derivatives subsector posted a 157 percent growth to US$ 101.6 million, which accounts for 38 percent of the total. Its main exports were liquefied propane gases and butane liquefied gases. 

The country’s exports of non-traditional products also showed some improvement, totaling US$ 157.4 million which accounts for 58 percent of the total.

Source: http://www.andina.com.pe/Ingles/Noticia.aspx?id=0LImaBOoMtU=

Peru is going through an exponential growth process and is respected worldwide because it successfully dealt with the effects of the global crisis, Peruvian President Alan Garcia said Sunday.

President Garcia noted that the world has more confidence in Peru, which means more investments, more factories and more buildings, resulting in employment generation.

"Why do world leaders such as President (Barack) Obama, President (Jose Luis) Rodriguez Zapatero, and the President of Greece respect Peru? Why does Colombian President (Alvaro) Uribe say that Peru is the best example of the global economy. Why?" he asked.

"We are respected because we learned to get on the wave, a great wave of global growth which ended when the crisis began,” said Garcia Perez at a ceremony of Peru's Youth Labor Training Program "PROJoven."

Source: http://www.andina.com.pe/Ingles/Noticia.aspx?id=JRQ558i8SJg=

In an effort to promote experiential tourism in the Amazonian region of Ucayali, the Regional Directorate of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Dircetur) launched Sunday the "Camu Camu tour”, which includes a visit to four communities in the district of Yarinacocha, Coronel Portillo province.

The head of Dircetur-Ucayali, Demetrio Rengifo, explained that the tourist circuit comprises San Francisco, San Juan, San Jose and Santa Teresita communities as well as the Camu Camu producer company Amazon and Yarinacocha pier.

The tour combines the customs and traditions of these communities, as well as the production process of Camu Camu, Amazonian fruit considered as the flagship product of this jungle region.
 
Camu Camu is very appreciated in the international market due to its high Vitamin C content and good taste, "which is why we want to promote its consumption among the visitors, as Ucayali has about 2,000 hectares of this fruit."
 
"Tourists can appreciate the traditions and customs of each of these native communities, on a three-day, two-night tour," he said.
 
Rengifo noted that the initiative was launched on the occasion of the San Juan Festival, held on June 24, which also seeks to promote the "Camu Camu sour”, made from this native fruit and Pisco (grape brandy).

He said the "Camu Camu tour" will be promoted on the Ucayali regional government’s website, tour operators and other entities.

Source: http://www.andina.com.pe/Ingles/Noticia.aspx?id=BYV6/5ZYXX0=

As part of ongoing efforts to strengthen security in the southern Peruvian region of Arequipa, local authorities have launched the Tourist Protection Network, which seeks to offer greater security to visitors.

Regional trade and tourism director Rocio Cervantes said the network includes a security plan aimed at reducing crime rates, especially offences against tourists.

This network will be made up of establishments such as hotels, restaurants and taxi companies which meet the safety and protection requirements for national and foreign tourists.

Cervantes explained that the plan will help combat new theft tactics, such as those criminals who book a hotel room near the tourists' room in order to steal their items while they are distracted.

According to the tourism official, there are also some criminals who seem friendly and kind to gain the tourists' confidence and then rob them of all valuables and cash.

The Regional Government, the Ombudsman's Office, the Provincial Municipality, the local Tourism Police, the District Attorney's Office, and the Civil Defense Institute also support the ongoing security related efforts.

Source: http://www.andina.com.pe/Ingles/Noticia.aspx?id=+o8xcoJDpbQ=

Peru’s economic and banking performance is better than the United States’, not because of its size but because of its high figures and economic measures, President Alan Garcia Perez said.

It may sound as a paradox, an absurdity, something "contradictory" and "impossible", "but it is not the size that provides security and confidence, but the figures recorded by each country."

"Despite the global crisis, our banking system reported low delinquency rates of 0.5 percent, that means our banking system is solid because it has not fallen into those contradictions that the United States is recently correcting.

After laying the first stone of the housing complex "Las Torres de Santa Clara II" in Huachipa, Garcia noted that Peru must maintain the virtuous circle of growth for the next five to ten years in order to enhance its development in the region.

Source: http://www.andina.com.pe/Ingles/Noticia.aspx?Id=lV5lHSVV5Gc=

The United States Chamber of Commerce (USCC) will support investments and operations of Peruvian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the U.S., said the chamber's senior vice president for International Affairs, Myron Brilliant.

"Trade relations between Peru and the United States have strengthened after the signing of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) but we want to go beyond, and we will encourage Peruvian SMEs to explore business and development opportunities in the U.S.," he said.

Myron Brilliant is senior vice president for International Affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where he is responsible for driving the global business strategy of the organization. He represents the Chamber and its members before foreign governments and business leaders and oversees the largest international affairs team in Washington, D.C. 

Brilliant pointed out that the trade agreement, which came into force in February 2009, will not only attract investments from large multinationals but also encourage smaller companies to position themselves in both countries' markets.

"The FTA is not intended to benefit large companies, but to enable Peruvian SMEs commence operations in the U.S.," said the chamber's senior vice president, who also predicted that more U.S. companies will increase their investments in Peru due to the country's remarkable economic growth.

"The Peruvian economy is growing and while the government keeps on promoting an investment-friendly climate and an open trade policy, the relations between Peru and the United States will continue to expand," he said.

Source: http://www.andina.com.pe/Ingles/Noticia.aspx?id=ZaT6TMpiv5E=

In Peru, approximately 20,000 Internet cabinas públicas (public Internet cafes) have emerged since 1998 in urban areas, without any support from the state, NGOs or private firms. Thanks to their presence, many from the lower-income sectors of society are benefiting from cheap and widespread access to ICT connectivity. As of 2005, more than 85 per cent of Peruvian users connect to the Internet in cabinas públicas. Despite its high levels of poverty and low levels of telephone penetration, Peru had the second highest percentage of Internet users in Latin America after Chile.

Many public and private institutions understand the fundamental importance of the cabinas públicas as providers of ICT connectivity and are implementing programmes to use them as a bridge between citizens and government or institutions. Different networks of cabinas públicas are promoting e-government activities, payment of taxes and fines, and facilitating the use of Internet by Small Medium Enterprises(SMEs). The presence of cabinas públicas is an opportunity to rapidly reach groups that were previously difficult to access.

Cabinas públicas are considered the Peruvian model of access to ICTs, a viable model for universal access in developing countries. The Peruvian model is evidence of the high demand for ICT connectivity coming from low-income groups, particularly in cities. Though they are immensely popular in Peru, there is still considerable territory to cover in the more remote, rural areas of the country.

Peru’s Fund for Investment in Telecommunications (FITEL) programme, inspired by the cabinas publicas, included in its FITEL II programme the provision of 500 public Internet access points in rural areas. It is an example of a competitively tendered telecentre initiatives being undertaken in rural areas of Peru, combining rural broadband services with rural satellite connectivity.

There is limited data available about the public use of the 500 public Internet access points in rural areas. However, FITEL’s own 2002 survey of FITEL II Internet cabinas públicas administrators found that of the 160 VSAT-based Internet cabinas públicas that responded, 22.5 per cent stated that the PC was not working. Primary issues encountered included the lack of PC and Internet availability due to rural power problems, and the lack of any discernable business model of how to run and develop the Internet cabinas públicas.

In 400 of the 514 locations (78 per cent), the VSAT-based Internet access and the PC units were powered by solar panels. The key reasons for the use of solar panels included:

• The operator was interested in being able to rely on their own power source, as electricity in rural areas was not stable or reliable enough to guarantee availability obligations for their phones; and
• Paying for outside electricity included not only the problem of money transfer to local electricity utilities or co-ops, but also the difficulties with village occupants who made unauthorized use of the power source.

As the power needs of PC units were relatively high, they were often only operational for a few hours per day or less. As a result, Internet access was only available in most locations for a couple of hours per day.

The Internet cabinas públicas had no apparent business model and management model in place to support the technology. While the technology was deployed for FITEL as requested, there appeared to have been little thought or planning given to how the Internet cabinas públicas would operate. Issues such as revenue sharing agreements with shop-owners, how to market services and how to train users were not developed.

Through the experience of its Internet cabinas públicas programme, FITEL understood that the rural Peruvian Internet market was not only challenging but also in its infancy, and that a considerable effort and investment was required to develop the market by finding solutions to the operational problems, developing an attractive business model for the shop owner, and providing training, education and support to both the users and the managers expected to run the Internet cabin business.

The FITEL V phase of the programme included much more local training and sensitization among the populace on the potential of the Internet, and stressed commercial viability or, at the very least, sustainability.

Source: http://icttoolkit.infodev.org/en/PracticeNote.3148.html

• User equipment can be made to adhere to standards for environmental performance.
• Network equipment can be selected according to its power consumption and freight weight. Improvements can happen rapidly with new technologies: some designs of WCDMA base stations, for example, are said to have 60 per cent of the power consumption and 80 per cent of the weight that others have. Typically network equipment consumes between 70 per cent and 90 per cent of the electricity supplied to a network operator.
  

Peruvian President Alan Garcia will visit Friday the southeastern Madre de Dios Region to open the Inambari-Iñapari stretch 3, El Triunfo-Planchon section of the Southern Inter-Oceanic Corridor between Peru and Brazil.

With an investment of US$ 32 million, the 34 km-long newly-paved section goes from El Triunfo town (located at the 486 km mark) to Planchon town (at the 520 km mark).
 
The opening of this section marks the completion of the highway linking Peru’s Puerto Maldonado with Iñapari in the frontier with Brazil.

In total 337 km of roads and 12 bridges have been completed so far, which represents 82 percent progress' of the project.

The Head of State is traveling accompanied by Transport and Communications Minister Enrique Cornejo, and Odebrecht official Jorge Barata.

Source: http://www.andina.com.pe/Ingles/Noticia.aspx?id=7UPupma7ESs=

Peru's minister of transport and communications Enrique Cornejo has announced that, for the rest of his term of office, the ministry will focus on laying the foundations for sustained development of data transmission via broadband networks across the country. For this purpose, the minister set up a temporary committee that will develop the National Plan for Broadband Development in Peru. The commission has 120 days to develop the strategy.

The committee will initially assess the level of broadband access in Peru, as well as the technology used and the infrastructure deployed at national level, and will identify the barriers that limit broadband deployments. The group will then propose the guidelines, strategies and actions to be taken to support the development of the national broadband network. At 30 September 2009, Peru had 852,900 broadband connections.

Source: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/newslog/Peru+To+Release+Broadband+Development+Plan+In+June.aspx