Nathalia Foditsch
Nathalia Foditsch is Director of International Programs at Connect Humanity. She is a licensed attorney and an expert in technology and communications policy and regulatory issues, with over fifteen years experience.
She has worked for some of the main international organizations and think tanks in Washington D.C., which she has represented in countless official missions to numerous countries in the Latin America, Caribbean, and Europe.
More recently, Foditsch has served as a Senior Policy and Regulatory specialist for the Web Foundation’s Alliance for Affordable Internet. She is a research fellow at Cornell University’s Emerging Markets Institute (EMI), which is part of the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management.
Among other publications focused on technology and communications policy and regulation, Foditsch has co-edited and co-authored the book “Broadband in Brazil: Past, Present, Future”, which was a finalist of the 2017 “Jabuti Awards” (the main literary award in Brazil). She is an adjunct professor at the University Jose Cela (Spain); and holds a master’s in law (LLM) and a master’s in public policy (MPP) and is a member of the advisory board of the Brazil-U.S. Legal and Judicial Studies Program at the Washington College of Law (WCL).
She is fluent in Portuguese, English, Spanish, and German.
Sessão
In Brazil, large incumbent Internet Service Providers (ISPs) often neglect remote or economically marginalized regions, leaving millions without affordable or reliable internet access. In response, an ecosystem of over 11,000 small, community-focused ISPs has emerged to fill this gap. These providers play a critical role in bridging the digital divide but continue to face significant challenges, particularly around financial sustainability and operational efficiency. One key strategy some of these ISPs employ is the use of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) to reduce network deployment and maintenance costs. However, widespread adoption remains limited due to barriers such as technical knowledge gaps, lack of user-friendly interfaces, and insufficient ongoing support from software communities. This paper explores the extent to which community-focused ISPs in Brazil are currently leveraging FOSS technologies and identifies the steps needed to encourage broader adoption. By examining both the opportunities and the constraints, the research highlights how targeted support for open technologies could strengthen the sustainability of small ISPs and expand affordable internet access to underserved regions. The findings contribute to ongoing policy and industry discussions about fostering inclusive, community-driven approaches to connectivity.