Brazil to expand broadband access

Latin America's largest nation hopes to expand broadband Internet access across nearly its whole expanse in the next three years, Brazil's communications minister said.

Helio Costa, speaking late Tuesday at a U.N. forum on governing the Internet, said the project could cost $1.7 billion. Much of the cost would cover laying new fiber optic telephone lines.

"If we manage to get an agreement with the companies to substitute lines, we could cover 80 percent of the national territory," Costa told reporters.

The government also plans to use the infrastructure of state-owned oil and electricity companies, the communications ministry said in a statement.

"The only people left out will be a few communities in the interior of the country," Costa said.

Brazil has more than 32 million regular Internet users, the most in South America, its census department said this year, but most of Brazil's 182 million residents don't have access to broadband.