A spatial assessment on internet access in Peru between 2007 and 2016 and its implications in education and innovation

A first spatial analysis was carried out to observe the evolution of the access to the Internet in Peru at a regional level between 2007 and 2016. Access to the Internet has shown to be one of the primordial conditions to reach the sustainable developments goals 4 and 9 agreed on the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. In this study we observed an expected increment of the percentage of the Peruvian population that had access to the Internet during this period of years. However, it could be also noticed that of the 25 administrative regions, those located in the natural regions of the highlands and the jungle have the least access to the Internet. On the other hand, looking into the percentage of the population that had access to the Internet in the capital city of Peru, it was found out that there was a one-to-one relationship with the ownership of computers. Nevertheless, it is indicated that this relationship may not hold for longer due to the increasing penetration of smartphones. In this regard, it is emphasized that smartphones are the best viable solution to provide the Peruvian population with Internet services. Some programs already underway using the Internet and smartphones in the leading emerging South American economies and some developing countries in Africa are put forward as examples to Peruvian governmental and non-governmental bodies in order to promote education and foster innovation.