Brett Allan King

The Spanish-speaking world will see its first virtual bank with the February debut of Uno-e, a joint venture between Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. and Terra Networks. The first Latin Net bank is a self-proclaimed “financial supermarket” which will offer savings and investment services such as deposits, investment funds, pensions, insurance, and will provide online […]

Netizens worldwide can ring in the new year 24 times, with a 24-act collective opera created by the project Big Opera Mundi (BOM) 2000. BOM 2000 is the brainchild of the multidisciplinary Catalonian performance group La Fura dels Baus. The 24-act/24-hour work is set for midnight, January 1. Following the Earth’s rotation, each act will […]

In a move that promises to promote greater Net access and fight software piracy, Spain’s government announced plans this week to give money to every citizen who buys a new computer and gets online. The program approved by the Ministry of Public Works and the Economy, as revealed this week in the leading daily EL […]

In an effort to bring the Internet to disadvantaged sectors of society, Spain’s government has announced plans to fund public access endeavors and improved infrastructure in rural areas. In order “to bring the information society to all Spaniards,” and “to put Spain in the leading pack of developed nations,” industry minister and government spokesman Josep […]

Spain’s analysts and government critics are still reeling from the spectacular stock market debut last week of Terra Networks. Terra tripled in value its first day on the Madrid stock exchange, outshining even the most idealistic projections and stunning government critics. After years watching Internet stock fever in the United States, Spanish investors looking for […]

With an eye on improved coordination of national Internet growth strategy, Netizens this week established the Sociedad Internet de España (ISOC-ES), the Spanish chapter of the Internet Society (ISOC). The charter assembly coincided with the Third Meeting of Internet Services Providers in Torremolinos and was organized by ISOC’s Andalusian chapter, ISOCANDA. Provincial ISOC chapters of […]

Having consolidated a dominant Internet presence in Latin America and Spain, the country’s digital conquistador has spent this month selling its new name: Terra Networks, S.A. Terra, which means Earth in Portuguese, is an all-encompassing name meant to fuse the transatlantic interests of Telefónica Interactiva S.A. into one recognizable entity. The new company will continue […]

Spain’s parliament this week knocked down opposition parties’ proposals for cheaper Net access, amidst allegations that the current government favors business users over home users. In support of the flat rate demanded by user groups across Europe, the Spanish Socialist Workers Party and the United Left coalition offered separate proposals to fix home Net use […]

Internet entrepreneurs and activists have long fought to make e-commerce safer for Spanish consumers, but now the alarm sounds for two more scourges of the online world: spam and e-mail fraud. The Spanish Internet Users Association (AUI) has expressed concern for “an increasingly worrisome matter: e-mail abuse.” Likewise CTV-JET, a major Spanish ISP, has reported […]

Spain’s second largest telephone operator intensified its race for market share this week by announcing free Internet access to all Spanish consumers, whether or not they are Retevisión customers. The move is part of Retevisión’s goal “to become the comprehensive multimedia reference for Spanish consumers,” said Pedro de Torres, company president. The company’s customer base […]

The Spanish and Portuguese-speaking world’s largest Web portal has announced a free Web-based e-mail service called OléMail. The new service from Telefónica Interactiva’s “Olé!” portal is the result of a contract with Sun-Netscape Alliance, and will use the latter’s technology. According to Telefónica Interactiva, “OléMail can be checked from any computer in the world and […]

Thousands of Spanish-language classics are now paperless and only a click away, following the recent inauguration of the Miguel de Cervantes Virtual Library. The online library, a joint project by the University of Alicante and the Banco Santander Central Hispano, has already received close to half a million requests in less than a week since […]