Living in Peru : your everyday companion

Living in Peru
Jobana Soto

Wireless is increasing in popularity as more and more are getting connected through their mobile phones or cable modems. In a recent study by IDC Consultoria, a reported 659,618 Peruvians are connected to wireless Internet via cable modem, a 21 percent increase since last year’s study.

While the number of wireless subscribers is not a major boost, studies show the increase is sufficient enough to take notice that wireless is becoming a popular means of connection. By 2010, IDC predicts a least one million users will be connected to wireless.

The bulk of Internet users come from personal homes at 80 percent, while businesses and residential markets have increased by 39 and five percent respectively. Nearly 6,000 businesses are subscribed to wireless.

With wireless subscribers on the rise, the pressure is on to increase Internet speed to support the amount of users wanted a better, faster signal.

General Manager of Cisco Peru, Álvaro Merino, says progress needs to be made to increase Internet speed by more than 1Mbps so connection can support those who use the Internet for wikis, instant messaging services, uploading videos among others.

Right now, the majority of wireless users are connected at 256 Kbps and 512 Kbps at 43 percent. To use advanced Internet functions, velocity needs to increase to support it and the increasing numbers of wireless users, said Merino.

Ericsson has signed an agreement to work with students from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP)in the development of digital TV technology in the country. Students will also be able to perform tests on IPTV platforms, the design of mobile TV projects, DTT in Peru and the investigation of new multimedia communication channels.

The project also involves the construction of an infrastructure for technology testing, the future development of a proprietary signal for interactive television delivered via the Internet, specialised training programmes, and the operation of internships and student exchanges between Ericsson's centres in Chile and Spain.

"We feel very honoured to have the opportunity to establish an alliance with the Catholic University for the development of communication facilities in the country," said Héctor de Tommaso, General Manager of Ericsson Peru.

Luis Guzmán Barrón of the PUCP added: "Today we witness the impressive progress of the technology that is developed by private companies, among which Ericsson is one of the most prominent. We hope, through our investigations and the professionals which we train, to contribute to this advance."

Living in Peru
Jobana Soto

Starting next year, prices will drop between 15 and 20 percent for LCD television sets as more people are willing to get their hands on the latest technology.

After years of high prices, Marco Contreras, director of AOC, one of the leading LCD manufacturing companies in the world, confirmed that businesses will lower its prices in 2009 and could last up until the beginning of 2010.

The price drop will occur at a time when LCD televisions are in high demand due to the upcoming 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Consumers are showing more interest in owning an LCD set before the games begin.

After the 2010 FIFA World Cup, prices are expected to increase again with the hope that many Peruvians will have experienced the value of LCD sets, added Contreras.

Living in Peru
Jobana Soto

Jesús María has expanded its Wi-Fi coverage to four new locations where district officials hope to see it used by visitors in town for the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit this week.
 
The four locations are Plaza San José, Plaza Andrés Avelino Cáceres, Parque Huiracocha and the Casa de la Juventud.

Service is available 24 hours a day at any of the four locations. Connection speed is at 2MB.

To encourage more people to use the free Wi-Fi service, security cameras have been installed in the Plaza Andrés Avelino Cáceres and Parque Huiracocha. The remaining locations will be supervised by the district’s private security force, Serenazgo.

For a map of free Wi-Fi zones in Lima, go to Google Maps.

News Source: El Comercio

Jeff Keltner, Keltner, Business Development Manager for Google Apps, the most popular company of Internet, stated today in Lima that his company would be happy to work with the Peruvian government to provide free apps to schools across the whole country.

"If the Peruvian government is interested in working with us, we would like to explore this possibility," Keltner said during the presentation in a hotel in Miraflores for the partnership between the Peruvian university Cesar Vallejo and Google Inc.

What Google usually does with schools is offering free services, both in software and hardware, which in other cases would be paid.

Among the tools provided in the educational package of Google Apps Education Edition, are the popular email accounts “Gmail”, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Gtalk!, and the  personalized web, where the student selects the content of their choice and have access to full control of the web platform from a single screen.

"The most important thing is that we are talking about participatory applications that allow students to create and edit documents at the same time", he said to Andina news agency.

Toyota del Perú led imports of consumption goods in the January-August 2008 period, with 114.87 million dollars, 98.15 percent higher than the number registered in the same period last year, reported Tuesday the Foreign Trade Society (ComexPerú).

LG Electronics Perú ranked second importing 66.46 million dollars, a 28.96 percent rise compared to purchases in the same period last year.

Procter & Gamble Perú ranked third, importing 60.82 million dollars of consumption goods, a 35.93 percent increase.

Ripley Department Stores imported 52.60 million dollars, 8.39 percent more, ranking fourth. Saga Falabella, ranked fifth importing 52.44 million dollars, a rise of 23.15 percent.

Gloria ranked sixth buying 50.64 million dollars (14.30 percent more) of consumption goods; followed by Suzuki Perú with 48.55 million (118.41 percent); and Honda del Perú with 43.65 million (85.64 percent more).

Samtronics Perú ranked ninth importing 39.80 million-dollar-consumption goods (a 30.20 percent rise); while Nissan Maquinarias with 35.41 million (107.61 percent) ranked tenth.

Comex reported that companies imported a total of 2.94 billion dollars in consumption goods in the first eight months of the year, a 43.89 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

News source: ANDINA

Andina,  the country's state news portal, is the first to launch in Peru a beta version tuned for Apple's iPhone, which helps in easy navigation as users can navigate through feature articles, photographs and news updated minute by minute.

This application was developed based on the existing Andina mobile news service in an effort to keep mobile users up-to-date with the latest news and information about Peru.

"It is not easy to develop such an application, but our advantage is that we know the system and have the experience," Andina’s system engineer Marco Milla pointed out.

News source: ANDINA

Living in Peru
Israel J. Ruiz

For four years now, bloggers around the world have had a day to call their very own. The world's fourth international bloggers day will be celebrated on Sunday August 31.

With a community that has no geographical limits, bloggers across the globe have one day that has been dedicated to fostering this ever-increasing means of communication.

As posted on blogday.org, BlogDay was created with the belief that bloggers should have one day dedicated to getting to know other bloggers from other countries and areas of interest.

Bloggers around the world will recommend 5 new blogs to their blog visitors. This way, all blog readers will find themselves leaping around and discovering new, previously unknown blogs, says blogday.org.

Peru has been just as enthusiastic in taking part in this international event.

To celebrate the 4th Blog Day, Peru Blogs and Páginasamarillas.pe organized a contest from July 15 - August 22 to find the Andean country's top 20 blogs.

With over 1,600 different bloggers participating and over 16,000 votes, the contest was a tremendous success.

Bloggers received their awards at Maria Angola Hotel on Friday evening.

These are some of Peru's top blogs, all of which were voted for and chosen by bloggers across the country.

www.perunotas.com
blogs.elcomercio.com.pe/busconovio
educandoamihijo.com
lanuez.blogspot.com
biounalm.com
lahabitaciondehenryspencer.com (An interview with Living in Peru's Carsten Korch will soon be posted on this blog)
www.cucharasbravas.com
albertodebelaunde.blogspot.com
blogs.elcomercio.com.pe/pobreshombres

Living in Peru
Israel J. Ruiz

Across the Andean country, telecommunications giants Telefonica del Peru and Claro have begun the sale of the iPhone, Time magazine's 2007 Invention of the Year.

Just minutes after 9 a.m., Henry Huanqui was the first person to formally* purchase one in Peru.

Henry, who stood in line for over two hours, purchased the phone at one of Claro's stores in the Limean district of San Isidro.

Having started a battle for customers several months ago, Telefonica and Claro sent invitations and made lists of anyone that was interested in purchasing the popular phone, which was released in the U.S. over a year ago.

In an effort to avoid customers from conglomerating at one store, Claro and Telefonica sent out e-mails telling users to go to specific locations.

The two companies have also launched the iPhone in countries such as Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Paraguay and Uruguay.

According to Telefonica representatives, approximately 500 phones were sold in two hours in Chile.

A list of prices based on the plan customers choose has been posted by El Comercio daily. Click here to see.

*The iPhone has been sold at Polvos Azules, a shopping center in Lima, for several months.

The number of satellite phone connections in Peru is expected to reach 2,600 active lines this year, representing a 30 percent increase to the current number of 2,000 lines, estimated today Tesacom, digital recruit solution.

The Business Unit Manager at Tesacom, Silvina Graziadio, explained this is based on the growth and best economic position of clients and also on the new and best conditions that companies have acquired, which allows them to invest in better technology.

"In addition, there is a better regulative framework in the country linked to the topic of telecommunications, and a 30 percent reduction in the cost of the mobile devices with satellite telephone system", she said.

The executive commented that a year and a half ago, the main difficulties in Peru for the investors in this sector was equipment homologation in customs and the acquisition of licenses to sell within the national territory.

News source: ANDINA