Peru deploys over 1,400km of fiber in La Libertad, readies Amazon initiative with IDB

Peru has achieved 80% completion of a regional broadband project in La Libertad department, encompassing 1,453km of fiber deployed, according to transport and communications ministry MTC.

The government claims that the project has 98.0% of its backbone network completed so far and 71.5% of its access network.

The entire network is due to go into full operation in the second half of next year.

MTC says that the La Libertad project will connect 959 public institutions, including 743 educational institutions, 186 health centers and 30 police stations. In addition, 71 Digital Access Centers (CAD) and 964 Wi-Fi points will be implemented.

The initiative is a coordination between the MTC, national telecommunications program Pronatel, local governments and private companies.

La Libertad is part of a broader MTC strategy which includes 10 regional broadband projects that are already in operation and that impact more than 2,563 population centers throughout the country, as well as 4,590 public institutions, the government claims.

Peru plans to launch five more broadband projects to complement its backbone fiber optics network in the first quarter of 2025.

These five new networks will operate in the regions of Amazonas, Huánuco, Pasco, Puno and San Martín and are expected to benefit over 7,540 public institutions and 2mn people.

Amazon

In related news, the local government is advancing a project in the Peruvian Amazon to improve infrastructure, riverway mobility and internet access.

Financed by the IDB, the initiative involves a total investment of 227mn soles (US$60mn) and will be developed on two fronts, according to the MTC.

The first, budgeted at 115mn soles, includes the construction of 23 river piers and three passenger terminals on the Iquitos–Nauta route, says the authority. 

The second, costing 112mn soles, includes the "development of project ideas" for 27 new river piers, 15 boarding platforms, 26 land accesses and basic internet connection in 33 locations.

On November 12, the program was filed with the IDB by Peru's ministry of economy and finance under code No. 340845.

Next steps include a pre-investment study and technical works, which are projected to be executed at the end of 2026, said MTC.

The Peruvian Amazon has increasingly attracted public and private investments to improve its limited connectivity.

Nokia and Global Fiber Peru, for example, deployed an underwater optical network through rivers in the Amazon linking municipalities in three countries.

The new underwater network interconnects 500,000 users across 400 communities located in an area known as the three-border region, where Peru, Colombia and Brazil share borders, Nokia said in a release.

Global Fiber is also further extending its reach into Brazil for a broader route and an Atlantic Ocean exit.