MUNICIPIO DE PONCE Project Title

Broadband USA Applications Database Applicant Name: MUNICIPIO DE PONCE Project Title: iMAP - Internet Municipio Autonomo de Ponce Project Type: Comprehensive Community Infrastructure _______________________Executive Summary_______________________ The Municipio de Ponce (MAP) is located in the South of the island of Puerto Rico with an extension of 193.6 square miles and it is the social and economic hub for the entire southern coast, and the second most importante city of Puerto Rico. Ponce's municipal territory reaches the central mountain range to the north and the Caribbean Sea to the south. Geographically speeking, the southern area of the territory is part of the Ponce-Patillas alluvial plain subsector and the souther coastal plain, which were created by the consolidation of the valleys of the southern sideof the central mountain range and the cayey mountain range. The central area of the municipality is part of the semiarid southern hills. These two regions are classified as being the driest on the island. The southern part of the municipality is considered to be within the rainy western mountains. Nineteen (19) wards (barrios) comprise the rural areas of the municipality, and the topology of their lands varies from flatlands to hills to extremely mountainous. The hilly barrios of the municipality are eight: Canas, Quebada Limon, Marueno, Magueyes, Tibes, Portugues, Machuelo and Cerrillo. The barrios of Coto Laurel, Capitanejo, Sabanetas, Vayas and Bucana also surround the outskirts of the city but these are mostly flat. The remaining six other barrios are furtheraway from the city and their topology is rugged mountain terrain. These are: Guaraguao, San Patricio, Monte Llano, Maraguez, Anon and Real. These is because trhough these parts of the municipality runs the Central Mountain Range of the island. The remaining barrios are part of the urban zone of the city. Due to its natural irregular topography, the rural areas have been traditionally neglectedby the private sector broadband service providers stating that it is not economically fessable to extend their services to those areas. In other words, these areas (barrios) have been unserve and or underserved mainly due to economical considerations and are not been in their future expansion plans because their low income and under poverty level population do not represent a substantial income to the private sector. According to the 2007 estimate of the U.S. Census Bureau 47.3% of the families live under the poverty levels. The consequences of having a large share of our population lacking the tools that promote communication, commerce, education and security are dire. The population in these rural areas are well below the poverty standards, have a high rate of criminality, truancy and myriad of social problems, which not necessarily are caused by the lack of these services but are accentuated by having them. Children and adults without the proper knowledge and skills to complete on an ever demanding world are deniaed the opportunities that the better equipped population has. The Municipio Autonomo de Ponce (MAP), although severly hit by the same economical strife that is afflicting the Nation, has envisiones an aggressive initiative to address the gap in services. Under Project iMAP we will provide free WiMax broadband access to all the unservedand underserved population of Ponce, strategically installing a series of antennae wich will give coverage to these areas.The launching of the system will be supported by establishing several CET (Public Computer Centers, or Centros de Educacion Tecnologica, in Spanish), throughout the rural area. The se centers will provide orientation, skills development, and access to the internet free of charge to all population. The aim is to educate the population that other wise would have no access to the technology, and to serve as a learning tool for low income students and citizens in general free of charge. Also, by strengthening the existing IT infrastructure of the MAP we will insure that the capacity to control and operate the increase in demand is more than adequate. This will be accomplished by using a standardized city network and under the control and supervision of the MAP IT department. .

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