Telefónica, Facebook ally for Peru rural broadband deployment

Telefónica del Perú has allied with Facebook and local mobile infrastructure provider Mayutel to roll out 4G technology in the city of Atalaya in central-east Peru.

According to a statement, Mayutel has deployed a 150km network connecting Satipo and Atalaya.

The project falls under the auspices of the Telefónica Internet for All project, which seeks to bring high speed connectivity to 8mn Peruvians living in rural areas.

Since 2017, this plan has connected around 1,099 new communities in rural areas, benefitting 320,000 people.

Telefónica began working with Facebook in 2016 under the auspices of the Telecom Infra Project (TIP), a collaborative telecom community that seeks to accelerate the pace of innovation with new business approaches and cost efficiencies.

Facebook has provided high density maps that can be combined with machine learning algorithms to map homes in Peru that are outside coverage of telecoms networks.

Telefónica has been experimenting with technologies such as microwave networks and Open radio access network (OpenRAN) technologies of the company Parallel Wireless as well as Facebook's OpenCellular LTE RAN technology, which is a software-defined wireless access platform that can be deployed to support a range of communications options.

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In related news, Telefónica del Perú said that by the end of September, the company had executed 80% of its 1.4bn soles (US$420mn) investment plan to expand fixed and mobile infrastructure throughout the country.

According to Pedro Cortez, CEO of Movistar Perú, the company has installed four mobile antennas per day at new and existing sites, which is 60% more than in 2017.

In addition, the company is installing a 4.5G network throughout the country.

In fixed line, the company is installing ultra-broadband networks (200Mbps+) to connect 3.7mn homes, which has entailed deploying FTTH to 28 cities.

Live TV streaming over mobile service Movistar Play now has more than 1mn users. Since 1994, Movistar has invested 30bn soles in infrastructure in Peru.