Gold Data, American Tower advance with LatAm internet projects

US-based data transport and telecom infra groups Gold Data and American Tower Corporation have gone live with new connectivity projects in Latin America. 

In Panama, Gold Data said it brought internet to 27 elementary schools in the San Blas archipelago in partnership with the country’s education ministry (Meduca).

"The islands, scattered across the Caribbean Sea, presented complex geographical conditions: mountainous terrain, dense vegetation, and a considerable distance from the mainland. Installing the telecommunications infrastructure was a puzzle that required ingenuity and determination," Gold Data said in a release.

Gold Data has regional offices in Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. The company reports 64 points of presence deployed in 11 countries of the Americas, and a presence in 12 submarine cable systems connecting the region.

The company recently teamed up with Liberty Networks for a joint submarine cable deployment in the Caribbean, with Panama as one of the landing points.

The two data infrastructure players will integrate Gold Data's GD-1 submarine system with a new cable to be developed by Liberty Networks, called LN-1.

The subsea system will be split into two segments, with the northern one called GD-1 and being jointly owned and operated by Gold Data and Liberty. This segment will run from Apalachee Beach and North Miami in the US to Veracruz and Cancún in Mexico.

Meanwhile, Liberty Networks will fully own the southern part of the system. This segment will connect Panama and Cartagena in Colombia to GD-1's Cancún section.

AMERICAN TOWER

American Tower inaugurated two more units of its digital community project in Brazil: in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul state, and in Pernambuco state capital Recife.

The initiative, which includes the supply of devices and ICT training, is present in seven locations in São Paulo state, the company said in a statement.

For the new launches, American Tower had the support of United Way Brasil, part of the US-based nonprofit organization.

The partnership will provide digital training with a focus on employability for 240 young people per year, totaling 720 direct beneficiaries over the three years of the project, American Tower said.

The company reports over 23,000 wireless sites in Brazil, in addition to a fiber optic operation in Minas Gerais state and a national IoT network based on LoRaWAN technology.

Worldwide, American Tower operates around 226,000 wireless communication stations.