Internet Media company StarMedia Network Inc. is launching a free Internet Service Provider service in Latin America. New York-based StarMedia operates Web sites in Spanish and Portuguese and hopes the service will help encourage people in the region to go online.
Called GRATIS1, the new service is being developed jointly with service provider 1stup.com, holding company CMGI and financiers Chase Capital Partners and Flatiron Partners, it was reported yesterday.
Plans call for the service, to roll out in major Brazilian cities by mid-2000, with debuts in Argentina and Mexico to follow. Free Internet access will be offered elsewhere in Latin America later.
Subscribers will receive unlimited connections without paying. Revenues for StarMedia would come from advertising and electronic commerce. Starwood’s CEO Fernando Espuelas made the announcement at the Jupiter Communications Inc. Internet Commerce Forum Latin America in Miami, yesterday.
The online population in Latin America is expected to grow rapidly, with 66 million using the Web by 2005, according to Jupiter. Obstacles to Internet growth in the region include low credit card adoption and poor product fulfillment infrastructure.
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