Brazil to complete terrestrial networks for 2nd Amazon cable section in August

Brazil expects to complete the deployment of terrestrial metropolitan fiber optic networks in nine municipalities along the route of the second section of the Amazon subfluvial cable in August.  

Five of the municipalities are in Pará state (Curuá, Óbidos, Oriximiná, Juruti and Terra Santa) and four in Amazonas state (Parintins, Urucurituba, Itacoatiara and Autazares). 

The 1,100km subfluvial trunk cable connecting Santarém in Pará and Manaus in Amazonas was completed in March.

The networks will connect the municipal government headquarters, as well as various public sector entities such as hospitals, schools and courts, according to a presentation made by Moisés Moreira, advisor to regulator Anatel, and Vinicius Caram, superintendent of concessions for the Amazon fiber connection program PAIS.

This section of the project, called Infovía 01, also includes the acquisition and installation of a Wi-Fi access point in each area.

In March, the communications ministry received the Infovía 01 infrastructure, which consists of the underwater cable and the anchor boxes in the 11 locations of the different stretches of the cable, plus the modular datacenters that are connected to the boxes and the respective optical transmission systems.

Infovía 01 is the second stretch of the Norte Conectado program, which is split into eight sections covering a total 12,000km of fiber optic backbone that will reach 59 locations.

The first section, Infovía 00, was completed in February last year and connects Macapá in Amapá state with Alenquer in Pará.

Infovía 02, 03 and 04, which will provide broadband to 22 municipalities in the region, are scheduled to be deployed in the third quarter. China's ZTT International Submarine Cable & System will produce, test and deliver 2,345km of underwater cables and 456km of terrestrial cables for these projects.