The time has come! RNP will deliver in the coming weeks the first batch of 6,250 chips from the Internet Brazil Program. The first cities covered are Mossoró (RN), Caicó (RN), Caruaru (PE), Petrolina (PE), Juazeiro (BA) and Campina Grande (PB). The six municipalities are part of the Proof of Concept, the PoC, the program's pilot project. In this initial phase, 15 schools are being contemplated. The 20 GB mobile data package will be automatically renewed monthly for program beneficiaries.

Internet Brasil aims to offer free mobile broadband Internet access to students of the public basic education network from the 3rd year onwards. One of the distinguishing features of the program is that the chips are neutral type. Visually the same as the traditional chips, they have an important difference: an integrated circuit that can be activated or deactivated from the RNP central, allowing the remote change of provider in case of service instability.

Remote operation by RNP complies with all the requirements of the General Data Protection Law (LGPD). The monitoring of each chip is not done individually, thus guaranteeing the privacy of the online activities of students and their families.

With the chip, any place becomes a learning space

Internet Brasil will enable students to complement their studies beyond the walls of the school. With the broadband chip in the cell phone, all places become potential learning spaces. Pedagogical use is one of the main objectives of the program, but not the only one. The distribution of free chips also intends to democratize access to the Internet, since the families of these students will also benefit from the connection. They will be able to communicate more effectively with their children's school and teachers, in addition to having direct access to information digitally.

“Many mothers are not in the school's online communication group because they don't have the Internet due to lack of money to put in credit. Today, children go to the school door to connect. Now they will be able to enter the social network, study. The teacher will be able to assign work with digital homework”, summarizes Bianca Andrade, business analyst at RNP.

In October, she and Hugo Monteiro, manager of Internet Brazil at the Ministry of Communications (MCom), toured the six cities of the Proof of Concept. Over the course of 13 days, they visited 15 PoC schools. For Bianca, the series of visits was essential to show the presence of RNP and MCom with the families. “Our trip was very nice because they felt very welcomed. And they reciprocated this welcome, they did everything to welcome us. It was very emotional”, she says.

Helaine Mirelli is the director of the Professor Eliseu Viana Integrated Education Center, one of the three schools in Mossoró (RN) that are part of the Internet Brazil Proof of Concept, with 450 students benefiting from the program. The manager says that the teachers have been excited about the arrival of the program for months. But those who really can't wait to put the chip in their cell phones are the students.

"I believe that the students were the ones who were most satisfied with the program at the school. Access will be free for them, they will be able to use it both for educational and leisure activities. The parents' reception was also positive. I believe that everything that can favor their children's learning process is positive for them”, says the director.

Instituted by Law 14,351/22, the Internet Brazil program is an initiative of the Ministry of Communications (MCom), in partnership with the Ministry of Education (MEC), and is being executed by RNP.