Chile is preparing two connectivity projects for rural and semi-urban areas, financed with resources from development fund FDT.
“The internet home project seeks to expand coverage in semi-urban sectors, which are areas between urban centers of large cities and rural zones, but also including some purely rural areas,” Marcelo Rute, head of the FDT management division, said during an event organized by Huawei in response to a question by BNamericas.
FDT is managed by regulator Subtel.
A 60bn-peso (US$70.5mn) tender will be launched this year to provide fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) coverage in areas that are not attractive to private players.
Regarding connectivity for indigenous communities, “there is the financial authorization to do it, but one difficulty relates to determining which indigenous communities, where and how [they’ll be connected]. It is a job that we have been working on for a year,” Rute said.
The plan involves 50bn pesos for mobile base stations and satellite technology.
LAST MILE
Last-mile connectivity tenders involving 50bn pesos for the regions of Ñuble, Maule, Los Lagos and Magallanes, among others, are also planned.
“We are taking charge of the area where the industry, by itself, does not reach,” said Rute during the event.
A call for connectivity in Ñuble region was launched in February and for Los Lagos and Magallanes in March.
Around 15bn pesos were earmarked to connect 332 localities in Los Lagos, 7.6bn pesos for 54 in Ñuble and 1.3bn pesos for five in Magallanes, according to the latest FDT report.
Also, a bill to declare internet a public service, including the possibility of FDT subsidies, progressed. “As the bill is in advanced processing, we are working on models that allow us to deliver these subsidies,” Rute said.
Source : bnamerica
