Claro Colombia announced the activation of a 42-billion peso (US$10.6mn) project to connect southern Colombia, specifically the town of Leticia, with fiber optics and 4G.
Leticia is the capital of Amazonas department and is located close to the tri-border area with Peru and Brazil in the extreme south of the country
The project, which began two years ago, also involved Ecuador, Peru and Brazil.
“This project is the integration of different networks, some existing, where we invested more in electronics and equipment that would allow us to have dedicated traffic channels,” Hugo Salazar, Claro's director of engineering, said in response to a question from BNamericas during a meeting with the press.
The network links Leticia to national capital Bogotá, interconnecting with a section of América Móvil's terrestrial backbone network between Bogotá and Peruvian capital Lima via the subfluvial cable deployed along the Amazon river. That passes through the cities of Yurimaguas and Iquitos in Peru to Tabatinga in Brazil, and from there it connects to Leticia.
The infrastructure uses the networks of strategic partners under long-term agreements, although no details of the companies involved were mentioned.
In total there are 5,244km of fiber optics crossing Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil.
In a first phase, already in operation, the capacity of Colombia's mobile network was increased, achieving internet navigation speeds that are up to 34% faster.
Claro currently has 24 mobile radio base stations deployed in Amazonas department, of which half are in Leticia.
In the second phase of the project, Claro plans to lay a fiber optic network in Leticia to provide coverage to homes and companies and offer triple play services.
In addition to the fiber network, Claro maintains a microwave network, which allows it to support connectivity in the Colombian Amazon.
“There is a favorable collateral effect for other municipalities in Amazonas that remain connected by the microwave transmission network that we originally had because, by not having to transport traffic to Leticia, their occupancy level drops and there's a lot of capacity available in that network for other municipalities.” Salazar added.
INTERCONNECTION WITH BRAZIL
Claro Colombia said it is closely monitoring Brazil's Amazon river network project to be able to use it to improve connectivity in Leticia.
The route Claro refers to is Infovía 02 of the Norte Conectado initiative, which involves the deployment of a 1,139km fiber line in the Brazilian Amazon. It entails estimated investments of US$14.1mn.
The integration of this infrastructure would allow Claro to have an additional route to Leticia via fiber optics.
Last year, the governments of Brazil and Colombia stated that they planned to sign an agreement to run the network from Tabatinga to Leticia.
“We are working together, joining efforts to expand connectivity in the Amazon. Knowing Brazil's experience and having its support will allow us to deploy fiber optics in that part of the country, which is very difficult to access,” Colombian ICT minister Mauricio Lizcano said at the time.
Norte Conectado is managed by the Brazilian research and education network RNP, partly with funds from Brazil's 5G tender, and it is operated by a consortium of local operators, with one consortium running each section.
An operator is currently being chosen for the section that reaches Tabatinga, according to Claro.
Source: https://www.bnamericas.com/en/news/claro-activates-project-to-connect-southern-colombia