Author: Roxana Barrantes Caceres
FITEL in Peru offers an early and successful example of a universal access fund adopting an innovative approach to achieving access in rural areas, now widely replicated: the lowest-subsidy auction. This is an efficient mechanism for minimising the subsidy required for commercial telecoms companies to extend the network into non-commercial areas, by awarding the contract to the bidder seeking the lowest subsidy. Despite shortcomings, this pioneering programme brought a number of social benefits, and activities have since expanded from public telephony to include internet access.