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Businesses set to get Internet uplink in January For 16 November 1995 By LARRY LEE TEGUCIGALPA -- Honduras' state-owned telephone company is preparing to offer Internet access to a large group of commercial providers waiting breathlessly at the starting gate. Hondutel's Pedro Mej¡a says that his firm will be a "provider of providers," first in Honduras and possibly later throughout the isthmus. Honduras' universities first started going on-line earlier this year in a link provided through a grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation. But for now the only commercial Internet service has been difficult to achieve, requiring a Hondupak membership and then membership in an Internet provider in another country, such as CompuServe and America Online. Once Hondutel's new equipment is ready -- and Mej¡a says that could be as early as next week -- the firm will begin signing up the 10 or more providers who have been waiting patiently for the go-ahead to start soliciting subscribers. That number of providers could jump to 20 or more, and the more the merrier, says Mej¡a, head of Hondutel's Telematica Department. That would mean more competition, leading to better service, and would also prove more profitable for Hondutel, Mej¡a says. "We want to connect them rapidly." He describes the new Cysco 7000 unit just installed at Hondutel's Miraflores location as the best in Central America and one that will permit the firm to be a "provider of providers" to other nations as well. Those include Guatemala and El Salvador, which Mej¡a said do not have general Internet services yet, and Costa Rica, which does. In addition, Hondutel will continue to serve individuals who want to stay with Hondupak. Hondutel will invite journalists to an open house to see the new equipment soon, says Mej¡a. With the Internet, Honduran businesses and individuals will be able to have instantaneous communications, including E-mail, with the rest of the world. Such communications, which will require a computer, will be much more economical than the current cost of long-distance telephone calls and faxes._

Internet coming to the masses in Honduras April 8, 1995 By LARRY LEE The Internet will soon be just a phone call away for thousands more Hondurans. A few people with personal computers and telephone lines are already taking advantage of the international computer network. But many Hondurans don't have telephones, and computers are even more rare. That won't matter in the next few weeks when Hondutel, the nation's military-owned telephone monopoly, completes a four-year project to connect the nation's public and private universities. Honduras' colleges are the last in Central America to join the link-up provided by the U.S. National Science Foundation. Among the benefits of the Internet are instantaneous electronic mail service, or E-mail, to and from anyone in the world who also happens to be connected. Another is the ability to conduct research using material in almost any library in the world, ending material constraints on Honduran academic research. Holding Hondutel back for now is the monthlong strike by instructors at the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH). Once it is settled, Hondutel will be able to test the service. Hondunet, as the project is called, will not be limited to universities. Other educational institutions like the School of Fine Arts in Comayagüela will be connected too, said Hondutel's Pedro Mejía. This Hondunet is not to be confused with the Hondunet service now advertising in local dailies. That service supposedly begins in June, but the private initiative hasn't yet gotten permission from Hondutel to use the telephone lines for its proposed service, Mejía said. Hondutel to pay satellite fee The telephone company's Hondunet originated in 1991 as an UNAH idea called Project InterTegus. Later UNAH sought help from Hondutel. The NSF owns the satellite that will connect the computer routers in Honduras with those in Homestead, Fla., near Miami. Hondutel will pay the $72,000 annual satellite fee for two years, said Mejía. The rest of the cost of the project is on the NSF, which is limiting connections to "academic traffic." But Hondutel is considering a Sprint offer to start a commercial connection to the Internet, which could be ready in three months, said Mejía. Private business could use the Internet to get technical and scientific information or conduct business by E-mail. Many Honduran organizations are already connected to the Internet by way of Fundación Acceso. That is a group based in San José, Costa Rica, to promote the use of electronic information in Central America. NICARAO and ExpreSo Fundación Acceso targets nongovernmental groups working with women, the environment, human rights, development and small business. It uses a Nicaraguan link, NICARAO, which is involved in peaceful causes. Another Internet link available in Honduras is called ExpreSo and is based in Costa Rica. It has a large software and shareware network, including games and antiviral and financial programs. ExpreSo, which is in Spanish, is designed more for commercial users, said Andrés Thomas-Conteris, a consultant with Fundación Acceso. It includes an encyclopedia and information on weather and tourism, among other topics. Clients need their own communication software, such as ProComm Plus. Anyone wishing information on connecting with ExpreSo or NICARAO may call Thomas-Conteris at 32-8223. The United Nations office in Tegucigalpa has about 40 groups signed on to its Sustainable Development Networking Program, which is for both governmental and nongovernmental organizations. It offers E-mail, file transfer protocol and international data base information, said Francisco Salinas, Honduras' national coordinator. He added that more Internet services may be offered later. The goal of the 3-month-old project is to involve all organizations working toward national development -- economic, societal and environmental. The U.N. program is now available in 20 nations and will soon add another eight. For more information, write Salinas at P.O. Box 976, Tegucigalpa, or call 31-0216 or 39-0216. One more system -- called Tips Empresario, based in Tegucigalpa -- faxed information on its services to Honduran businesses this week. For a $250 annual fee plus 7 cents a minute for on-line time, clients will be able to access the Internet and conduct business by computer, eliminating the middleman, says the info sheet. The Internet was created in the middle of the century as a series of computer links between the U.S. Defense Department and major universities. In recent years it has been discovered by the private sector and dubbed "the information superhighway." The number of users has soared and continues to grow by the week.

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