e
- Commerce Brief
In short…
Venezuela:
the government recently approved the law
on digital signatures. More.
Panama:
a draft law on electronic commerce signature has been approved
by the government and is pending for a final say by the Parliament.
Caribbean:
C&W agreed to dismantle its monopoly in five Caribbean countries:
St. Lucia, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts and St. Vincent. New licenses
for domestic mobile communication, ISP, telecom equipment and
VSAT band will be offered soon. A similar agreement may be signed
with Barbados in the near future.
Broadband:
a number of investments for the set up of fiber optic backbones
in the region has been announced recently: Emergia, a subsidiary
of Telefónica de España announced a $1.3 billion investment for
cable network that will connect 7 cities in Latin America and
Miami. Silica Networks, a joint venture of National Grid (UK),
Williams Communications (US) and Manquehe Net (CL), is completing
its fiber optic network between Chile and Argentina. Other international
and regional carriers will be launching new investments in the
coming weeks or months. Health: three of the major pharmacy
chains in Brazil, Mexico and Argentina will build a pan-regional
virtual pharmacy. The address of the web site will be farmamundo.com.
(Source: EIU)
Trade Finance:
International Trade Finance (ITF), a New York based company, is
an Internet platform that should enable banking institutions and
corporations to market trade related debt instruments, especially
for emerging markets. This would create a secondary market for
tra-ditionally illiquid financial assets and may eventually increase
funding for international trade. Deutsche Bank - Bankers Trust
will act as a clearing-house for the new market-place. Read an
article
by IFR Latin America and visit the ITFex web.
Wireless:
according to Jupiter Research, the US based market research firm,
mobile Internet usage will surpass PC-based access in Latin America
by 2005. The firm predicts that more than 50 million Internet
users in the region will access the web through wireless devices.
Another US firm, Yankee Group, states that by 2007 the region
will have over 162 mobile phone users.
Multilateral
Investment Fund: the MIF recently approved funding for a project
managed by the Financiadora de Estudios e Projetos (FINEP) to
support the Brazilian venture capital sector. Measures will include:
a) institutional strengthening in view of the new Technology Investment
Facility to be set up by FINEP and other institutions, b) training
and c) information services. Visit the web
site for venture capital in Brazil.
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