Brazil's Infovia 04 fiber cable arrives in Roraima for deployment

More than 500km of underwater fiber optic cable has arrived in Caracaraí, in Brazil’s Roraima state, for the first stage of deployment of the Infovia 04 river route.

The Infovia is one of the various sections comprising the Norte Conectado program of fiber optical backbones through Amazon basin rivers.

Budgeted at US$25mn, Infovia 04 will be 640km long and will connect Vila de Moura, in Amazonas state, with Boa Vista, capital of Roraima state.

Most of the route runs along the Negro and Branco rivers with 132km installed underground on the edge of the BR-174 highway.

The cable was manufactured by China’s ZTT International Submarine Cable & System, whereas the optical equipment comes from Brazil’s Padtec.

Caracaraí is Roraima’s third most populous city, sitting on the Negro river on the border with Amazonas state. 

The city will be one of the beneficiaries of connectivity along Infovia 04. An installation license for the route was issued by environmental watchdog Ibama on August 5 and is valid for two years.

Estimates are that the rollout of Infovia 04 along the rivers will take 11 days, depending on weather and waterway conditions. There is no estimate as to when deployment will begin.