The Ministry of Communications (MCom) is carrying out, during this week, an inspection of Infovia 01 of the Norte Conectado program, which is taking broadband internet to the Amazon Region. The infrastructure has 1,100 km of optical fiber between Santarém (PA) and Manaus (AM) and its inauguration is scheduled for August, with the presence of President Lula and the Minister of Communications, Juscelino Filho.

"The technical inspection is a very important stage as it precedes the delivery itself, from when the population can rely on a very high-speed connection infrastructure to exercise citizenship through access to information and public policies and services", explained Juscelino. Infovia 01 will be activated on the stretch between Santarém (PA) and Manaus (AM), passing through the cities of Autazes (AM), Itacoatiara (AM), Urucurituba (AM), Parintins (AM), Juruti (PA), Terra Santa (PA), Oriximiná (PA), Óbidos (PA) and Curuá (PA).

INSPECTION – The MCom technical team started the work by visiting the factory responsible for the production of Infovias containers. These structures are allocated in the contemplated cities to accommodate the data centers that receive the optical fiber installed in the bed of the Amazonian rivers. From the container, the companies that make up the Open Consortium of the Neutral Operator (NO) of Infovia 01 are in charge of taking the connection to be distributed in the metropolitan networks.

Subsequently, the group went to the field to check the container that ends Infovia 01, in Manaus (AM), installed at the Brazilian Navy's Rio Negro Naval Station. The technicians boarded the ferry that crossed the Brazilian rivers taking the cabling to the cities and will start the new route of Infovia 02, scheduled to start installing the subfluvial optical cable on the 7th of August, departing from Tefé (AM) to Tabatinga (AM).

Infovia 02 is 1139 km long and will interconnect a section between the cities of Tefé and Atalaia do Norte, connecting the municipalities of Alvarães, Uarini, Fonte Boa, Jutaí, Tonantins, Santo Antônio do Içá, Amaturá, São Paulo de Olivença, Tabatinga, Benjamin Constant, all located in the State of Amazonas.

According to the director of the Department of Infrastructure and Digital Inclusion Projects, Rômulo Barbosa, “from a technical point of view, Infovia 01 has an excellent structure and is ready to be activated, providing connections to teaching and research institutions, hospitals, health centers and units of the Judiciary that make up the metropolitan networks and, of course, for the entire Region”. In addition to Barbosa, the MCom team is composed of the advisor of the Department of Infrastructure and Digital Inclusion Projects, Marcus Vinícius Paolucci, and the General Coordinator of Infrastructure Projects, Luís Flávio Collares.

Also accompanying the group are the technical advisor of the Regional Management of the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) in Amazonas, Severino Junio, the manager of strategic projects of the National Education and Research Network - RNP, Oswaldo Alves, and the project manager of the Digitalization of TV and RT Channels (EAD) Seja Digital Administrative Entity, Fernando César Araújo.

HIGH CAPACITY – The Infovias are created by cables implanted in the bed of Amazonian rivers that have 24 pairs of optical fiber - each with a capacity of up to 20Tb/s, which allows high internet capacity for the population of the municipalities served. In all, the initiative provides for the installation of eight infovias with 12,000 km of cabling, passing through 59 cities in northern Brazil and benefiting 10 million people.

The first section of Norte Conectado (Infovia 00), which connects Macapá (AP) to Alenquer (PA), is almost 800 kilometers long and the cables also pass through the Pará municipalities of Almeirim, Monte Alegre and Santarém.

NEUTRAL OPERATOR – To operate and maintain the infrastructure already in place, MCom established the NO, formed by companies interested in exploring the infrastructure. Each of them has a pair of optical fiber available to sell, either through the sale of packages or by sharing the infrastructure with other companies. The selected companies must install their own networks in the cities.

In return for the right to use Infovia, the companies selected to join the NO assume commitments such as the operation and maintenance of the fiber optic cable. In addition, they must maintain and operate the equipment installed to bring connectivity to the contemplated points, so that the public sector does not have costs for the maintenance of the infrastructure.

Source: Ascom MCom.