Peru. The Ministry of Transport and Communications, MTC, through the Telecommunications Investment Fund, FITEL, plans to finalize this year, via the Agency for the Promotion of Private Investment, ProInversión, the award of six new regional projects of "Broadband Installation for Integral Connectivity and Social Development", with a financing of US$ 665'400, 000, which includes subsidy to the operation for 10 years.
The six projects will be developed in the regions of Áncash, Arequipa, Huánuco, La Libertad, Pasco and San Martín. They will benefit 1.2 million Peruvians from 2,007 rural localities, and aim to increase access to telecommunications services through the installation of broadband transport networks, which will connect provincial capitals with district capitals through 9,881 kilometers of fiber optics.
It will also be possible to connect to the Internet to 3,316 State entities (2,160 educational centers, 998 health establishments and 158 police stations), in which the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), such as Telehealth and Teleeducation, among others, would become a reality.
In this sense, the MTC has already given a favorable opinion to the evaluation report presented by ProInversión, an entity that must incorporate these projects into its investment portfolio. It is estimated that the Buena Pro will be awarded in the last quarter of this year. In turn, the contracts corresponding to the regional projects already awarded last December and that will bring connectivity to Tacna, Moquegua, Junín, Puno, Amazonas and Ica are in the process of being signed. That is expected to happen next April.
"We continue to take firm steps in our commitment to increase the coverage of telecommunications services in rural areas and of preferential social interest, so that a comprehensive digital economy can be implemented, in a transversal way, that enables ICTs, such as Teleeducation and Telehealth. We must also remember that the Bill that creates the Vice Ministry of ICT is under evaluation by the competent authorities, which will regulate public and private actors, as is done in Colombia, Mexico and Chile, to name some successful experiences in the region, "said the Deputy Minister of Communications, of the MTC, Virginia Nakagawa Morales.
There are currently 15 such projects awarded in the country. The six new ones will complete the package of 21 regional broadband projects.
