BNDES supports Datacom's innovation project with R$30 million

This is a machine translation of a press release by BNDES

The National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES) approved financing in the amount of R$30 million for the 2024-2025 innovation plan aimed at the development of new telecommunications products by the company Datacom, located in the city of Eldorado do Sul, in the metropolitan region of Porto Alegre (RS).

The resources come from the Telecommunications Technological Development Fund – BNDES Funttel and represent approximately 89% of Datacom's project, with a total value of R$33.7 million. The objective is to expand the company's operations in markets where it is already present, as well as to enable the offering of more complete telecommunications solutions with national technology.

“One of the goals of President Lula’s government is digital inclusion, one of the pillars of the New PAC, and to this end, BNDES is investing in the expansion of services such as 5G and in connecting schools. Operations such as this one by Datacom are an example of the capacity we have to produce technology here in Brazil, which means we have the people and the resources,” said BNDES President Aloizio Mercadante.

Qualified jobs - The investment, which strengthens one of the largest hardware companies in Brazil, will be used to hire qualified personnel for research and development (R&D). The expectation is that 21 new jobs will be created, eight of which will be in R&D. With this, the company will have a workforce of 450 employees, of which 103 will be dedicated to research.

"Funttel's resources are intended to foster technological innovation and invest in research to support the country's growth. The Ministry of Communications encourages the competitiveness of the Brazilian telecommunications industry and projects aimed at digital inclusion, because this is a priority of President Lula's government," said the Minister of Communications, Juscelino Filho.

“Investments of this type are important to ensure the expansion of the supply of telecommunications services, promoting digital inclusion with the universalization of the internet in schools, favelas and remote regions of the country. To this end, the industry has an important role to play, providing the equipment that will allow this expansion, one of the missions of Nova Indústria Brasil, while preparing to export”, highlighted the director of Productive Development, Innovation and Foreign Trade, José Luís Gordon.

“The resources will be very important to enable investments in research and development of new network products, mainly a new line of switches aimed at 5G networks, a new line of routers and significant developments in the network operating system that operates all of the company's products, expanding the company's participation in the networks of Internet Access Providers, as well as large operators”, noted Antonio Carlos T. Porto, president of Datacom.

Brazilian Telecom - Datacom is the trade name of Teracom Telemática AS, founded in 1998 in Eldorado do Sul (RS). The company's factory has 3,000 m2 and a production capacity of over 30,000 pieces of equipment/month. The company has invested in the creation of products with its own technology and national engineering since the beginning.

As a result, it has four software programs registered with the National Institute of Intellectual Property (INPI). In addition, it maintains partnerships with institutions throughout the country, such as PUC-RS; the National Institute of Telecommunications (Inatel), in Minas Gerais; the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Ceará (IFCE) and the Center for Research and Development in Telecommunications (CPqD).