A CAPILARIDADE DA INTERNET NO RIO GRANDE DO NORTE

Abstract

This article is part of a research on the capillarity of the communication networks through the Internet in Brazil, which seeks to know its distribution by the density's spatialization and the diversity of internet access.Based on cartographic methods, we elaborated two cartograms of the potiguar territory, one of the density of Internet access and the other of the diversity of technologies.The first map was elaborated with quantitative data of households with Internet access, relativized to total households in the potiguar municipalities (IBGE, 2010). The second map, with information of the access' diversity, was elaborated with quantitative data of the access to the internet per type of technology (ANATEL, 2011). Data analysis and maps identified an unequal distribution of Internet access in Rio Grande do Norte, concentrated in certain regions of the potiguar territory. The density of the accesses is concentrated in the metropolitan region of Natal and, to a lesser extent, in other regions of the state, especially in the regions of Mossoró and Currais Novos - Caicó. The diversity of technologies follows the same spatial pattern, but it is even more concentrated, since only Natal and Mossoró have all access technologies. The regions with less capillarity are the ones of Pau dos Ferros, Central and Litoral Norte. The capillarity of the internet in potiguar territory is very limited, marked by the concentration of density and the restriction of technological diversity distributed in the territory. The article opens possibilities for specific analyzes of the organization of the territory under the bias of these networks, essential to characterize the current geographical environment.