Brazil’s National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) has approved financing worth R$41 million (US$7.5 million) for Um Telecom, a B2B operator focused on Brazil's Northeast region, to deploy the first Tier III data centre in the State of Pernambuco.
Once operational, the facility will, it is claimed, have ample space on site for other companies to join an ecosystem that will allow the provision of digital services such as cloud computing, 5G, cybersecurity and the Internet of Things.
At more than 150 racks, the data centre, which will be located in the state capital Recife, will be the first large-capacity data centre with Tier III classification in Pernambuco. In Brazil, there are reportedly 87 Tier III facilities, of which 85% are in the Southeast region. In the Northeast region, Fortaleza (pictured above) has three units for commercial use and João Pessoa only one.
There is, of course, a renewable element to this as well as a developmental one. As the president of BNDES, Aloizio Mercadante, points out, digital infrastructure is important for the development of the Northeast. He says: “BNDES is aware of this regional opportunity for the northeastern company Um Telecom, which will operate partly with solar energy, and will sell services to companies in different segments, including large global technology companies.”
That isn’t the only recent telecoms first for northern Brazil. As we reported last week, Peru-based telecoms operator Global Fiber says it has selected Brazilian fibre optic vendor Padtec and Peruvian telecoms firm Satelital as primary suppliers for a subsea ‘festoon’ network connecting two provincial capital cities in Brazil: Belém in Pará state and Fortaleza in Ceará state.