Deputy Minister María Isabel Mejía with children at installed digital kiosks. Photo: Colombia Ministry of Information and Communication Technology

[Via Satellite 05-16-2014] Hispasat will collaborate with NEC Colombia to install the first of 648 digital kiosks in Colombia, as part of an award by the Colombian Ministry of Information and Communication Technology granted in December 2013. The kiosks will be located in educational establishments and venues in rural areas, and will provide satellite communications services such as Internet access, domestic and international calling, digital literacy, e-government and many more.

The kiosks will be installed in the Amazonas, Boyacá, Caldas, Cundinamarca, Guainía, Quindío, Risaralda and Vaupés departments. Currently, the first kiosks are operating in the Amazona and Cundinamarca regions, and all of the kiosks will be up and running by September 2014. This partnership was developed as part of the second phase of Colombia’s Kioscos Vive Digital Plan, a four-year technology plan which hopes to deliver Internet and communications access on a mass scale to areas of the country without connectivity.