Brazil’s Amazonas fiber cable ready to connect Colombia

A fiber optics cable crossing Brazil's Amazonas state is ready to connect the Colombian city of Leticia, just across the border.

The project to link the two countries via fiber in the shared Amazon border area has been progressing since 2022.

Brazil’s Infovia 02, one of the many stretches of the country’s Norte Conectado project of fiber backbone laid along Amazon rivers, reaches Tabatinga, on the border with Colombia's Amazonas department.

Last December, the integration initiative was formalized through an MOU signed by Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his Colombian counterpart Gustavo Petro.

The Colombian ICT ministry (Mintic) said that the connection between Tabatinga and Leticia, capital of the country's Amazonas department, started operations on July 1.

The distance between the two cities is around 4km. 

The connection is a partnership between Brazil's state-run telecom company Telebras and Internexa, the telecoms arm of Colombia's power group Isa.

In Colombia, the fiber is initially expected to connect around 8,600 low-income households in Leticia and 1,200 in Puerto Nariño, Mintic said in a statement. Internexa will be responsible for extending connectivity.

The binational agreement also includes a commitment to enhance connectivity in the broader Amazon region.

As a result “the door is opened for the arrival of new investors and multinational companies, which can contribute to the economic and social development of the region,” the statement reads.

RELATED PROJECTS

Last month, Nokia and Global Fiber Perú announced the deployment of an underwater optical network in rivers in the Amazon linking municipalities in Brazil, Peru and Colombia. The network connects 500,000 users across 400 localities in the triborder region.

The backbone connects Iquitos and Santa Rosa de Yaraví in Peru, Leticia in Colombia and Tabatinga in Brazil.

Global Fiber also announced that it had hired Brazil's Padtec as optical supplier for a new submarine fiber route to be deployed off Brazil’s northern coast, leading from Pará state capital Belém to Ceará capital Fortaleza.

The cable in Brazil is part of a project to connect Peruvian capital Lima to Fortaleza across the Amazon rainforest, offering a Pacific-Atlantic gateway.