Research institutes and universities in Brazil for years "have been isolated from a high-speed broadband network which links their counterparts in the rest of the country," according to Brian Homewood of REUTERS. Thanks to the 2014 World Cup, "they are now connected." Brazil Deputy Sports Minister Luis Fernandes said, "One of the things we have been able to do through telecommunications investments for the World Cup was to establish fiber optics connections to the Amazon region. So we will now have a national broadband research network, something we always wanted to do in science and technology, because of the World Cup." He added, "These are benefits [one] would not usually think about or associate with the World Cup." Fernandes said that such benefits were more important to the government than winning the World Cup. Fernandes: "The most important thing is to seize the opportunity the World Cup gives us to spur a number of strategic projects, that's more important than the image we project and it's more important than winning the World Cup" (REUTERS, 4/24).
