El Salvador is known for its adoption of Bitcoin as a legal tender in 2021. El Salvador’s
internet penetration rate stood at 50.5 % of the total population at the start of 2022, with over 4 million social media users. El Salvador is making important
progress towards digitalisation in terms of infrastructure capacity and reliability, but there are still challenges to overcome, such as access and affordability to internet connections, especially in rural areas. Regarding data protection, El Salvador still lacks a comprehensive data protection law, although the country has made improvements in the past years.
According to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), as of 2021, Peru had an
internet penetration rate of around 71.1 %. However other
indexes place this number in the mid 60’s. Although many improvements were made in the past few years, Peru still possesses low network coverage, especially in rural areas and a relatively low network performance.
The government of Peru has been implementing initiatives to increase connectivity in rural areas, including a
national broadband plan and a program to deploy free Wi-Fi hotspots in public spaces, with a year-on-year increase of almost 100 %.
Peru ranked 86 out of 182 countries
surveyed in the ITU’s Global Cybersecurity Index in 2020.
As of 2020, 86 % of Uruguayans are
active internet users, second in South America, only behind Chile. 9 out of 10 individuals in Uruguay are social media users. This provides a fabric for efficient digital policies and strategies that have transformed Uruguay since the 2010s. Uruguay is ranked first in Latin America and 35th place in the world on Digital Government Development, according to the
UNDESA index, which measures dimensions related to technological infrastructure, availability of online services, and ability of citizens to take advantage of those resources. Uruguay also ranks first in Latin America and 42nd in the world on
ICT Development, according to the 2017 IDI, published by the International Telecommunications Union. In all, this South American country has positioned itself at the forefront as a regional and world benchmark in Digital Government.