Moving to the Everest, looking for 3G service

It is a well-know problem that Internet service in Spain has poor quality and high prices, both in domestic and corporate segments. I've often complaint about the poor resources that many places in Spain offer for technology companies and innovation because I believe there is something wrong with it. For example, in Spain you can hardly get GPRS service (not to say 3G) when you walk a few miles away from big cities. That makes really difficult to stablish information workers in rural areas, even temporarily, for example during school holidays in summer.

And today I've read that a private telecommunications Nepali company, Ncell, has announced 3G services are available at the Mount Everest base-camp located at 5299 m. What the hell!

Although we must give big credit for such an accomplishment, as mighty as the altitude, the real thing is that climbers will be able to update blogs in Everest and I cannot work 20 Km away from the 37th most populated city in Spain during the summer. And I do not believe that is a good thing for a country that pretends to lead a shift in the grounds of its economy. Perhaps I should move to the Everest during the summer to have a quality internet service.

Spain: Building a new economic model, brick by brick

Spain is suffering the biggest economic downturn since the statistical records are available. A fall in GDP of 3% in the first quarter of 2009 and 800,000 new unemployed people have shown the hardness of the situation.

The party is over and somebody has to face it. The government blames the construction sector and the international financial crisis but does not go beyond in its analysis what is hampering the possibilities to do something helpful.

The government has recently come with the idea of changing the economic model from a brick-based economy to a knowledge-based economy. However, as a first measure, a 8,000€ millions pack has been approved to fund works at city councils in a desperate attempt to stop unemployment figures, which reached 17.36% and over passed 4 million people.

None of the structural reforms suggested by international institutions are being adopted, but the last message from the government, just before European Parliament elections, is that they could see a few “green shoots” in the economy.

You have to excuse me but, as an economist, I do neither understand about “green shoots” nor about “Brussels sprouts”. What I know is that only a good analysis of the situation and a coherent plan of action will drive us out of the crisis and I haven’t seen any of them yet.