State-owned Bolivian telco Empresa Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (Entel) has confirmed plans to extend fibre-optic connectivity to all 339 municipal capitals by 2022, as it seeks to improve rural broadband coverage.
As of end-2017, just 62 municipal capitals boasted fibre connectivity, the telco recently disclosed. The fibre-optic rollout programme is being funded by the National Telecommunications Program for Social Inclusion (Programa Nacional de Telecomunicaciones de Inclusion Social, Prontis). Going forward, Entel also hopes to deploy around 300 new mobile base transceiver stations (BTS) in rural areas.