Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is probably the least well defined of all the official IIRSA sectors. Up to the present the sector consists of a handful of projects that involve the laying of fiber-optic cables alongside pre-existing or new roadways. Perhaps the most ambitious of these projects are in the Guianese Shield hub. They foresee the improvement of communications to and from the Northern Amazon region via the running of cables from the Brazilian cities of Boa Vista and Manaus to Caracas, Venezuela and Georgetown, Guyana. Projects of a similar nature are found in two project clusters in the Andean hub.
In order to define the types of project designs that would be required to improve communications interconnectivity in the region, IIRSA backers commissioned a study entitled ICTs at the Service of Competitiveness and South American Integration. The study, released in May 2003, engaged in supply- and demand-side analyses of the current and future outlook for ICTs, so as to propose comprehensive solutions that will not only improve communications infrastructure, but also bring about improvements in service provision and in consumer well-being. It went beyond the simple consideration of necessary infrastructure for expanded communications, to a discussion of the need for more public telecommunications centers (providing, among other things, access to the internet) and new government websites providing access to essential services. The study concluded that the region’s interconnectivity problems are best handled through the concerted action of public, private and civil sector bodies.