Intelligent CIO LATAM Issue 20 | Page 64

INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Cabling

Furukawa solutions contribute to the success of the Piauí Conectado project

The company provided optical network infrastructure that is interconnecting the entire state , with quality and high-speed Internet .
Thus , the project was structured to meet two fronts : The government access points , which include public schools , universities , hospitals , police stations , and other state agencies and public access points , for the offer of free Wi-Fi and Internet .
Among the results already obtained , Silva highlighted the over 20,000 videoconferences held during the COVID-19 pandemic period and the over two million Internet accesses , in 363 public access points already deployed throughout the state .

The Piauí Conectado project aims to connect 100 % of the population of the state of Piauí , in Brazil , with a quality Internet service . As a result of a successful public-private partnership , the project began to be implemented in mid- 2019 , with the construction of an optical network infrastructure for data , voice and image transfer .

“ In 2015 , when the bidding process studies began , the state government only had 400 MB of bandwidth available for use and only 25 % of the municipalities of Piauí had some connectivity ,” said Edson Silva , President at Global Task , the company responsible for the project .
Parnaíba river , Piauí , Brazil
An optical fiber backbone was built to interconnect the 224 municipalities of the state , with guaranteed quality and security to the connections at 2,400 Internet access points distributed throughout Piauí .
“ Furukawa is the main supplier of the Piauí Conectado project , which already has the network infrastructure ready for new technologies such as 5G ,” said Silva .
The solution provided by the company includes over 11 thousand kilometers of optical fiber , splice boxes and other accessories , GPON equipment , network monitoring software and support services . In addition to the complete solution , Furukawa also provided training and certification for the professionals involved in the project .
“ And this is thanks to a high-quality network , which made Piauí the state with the fastest Internet in Brazil and also with the lowest latency and best video download speed , according to tests carried out by a specialized site ,” added Silva .
Another important result of the project is related to the universalization of Internet access , which included the Mimbó quilombo
community , located in Amarante , in the rural area of the state .
“ We deployed 150 kilometers of optical fiber to serve this community , which is the first 100 % fiber-connected quilombo in Piauí ,” said Silva .
The social project , called Mimbó Conectado , connected more than 600 residents of the region , who now have free access to the Internet in ‘ convivial spaces ’. The school was also connected to the fiber network , as well as the residents ’ homes . In addition , the project has already made it possible to bring the benefits of telemedicine to the local community . p
64 INTELLIGENTCIO LATAM www . intelligentcio . com