Argentina fiber news watch

San Juan Innova SE launched a request for a public proposal for the contracting of project preparation services, provision and installation of connectivity equipment for the provincial fiber optic network, the civic center and its datacenter.

The province, which owns the company, has a budget of 1.5bn pesos (US$8.92mn) for the work.

The tender will be open to public consultation until December 16. The reception of bids and their opening is scheduled for December 22.

The objective is to develop fiber optic infrastructure that offers universal internet access and fixed and mobile data throughout San Juan province. The upgrade of the data transport and distribution equipment and the datacenter of the civic center is foreseen.

Details can be seen here

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San Luis province has made 3,082 fiber optic connections this year under the San Luis a Mil plan. There are 1,105 commercial businesses, 1,699 homes and 278 companies connected to the province's network.

In addition, the jurisdiction continues to invest in the extension of the network in the towns of Carpintería and Los Molles, where there are already 400 and 200 connection requests pending, respectively.

San Luis a Mil offers 1,000Mbps broadband at a price of 2,500 pesos a month.

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More than 80 mayors and community presidents joined the Santa Fe + Conectada program, which aims to reach 365 towns in the Argentine province with fiber optics, reported local newspaper La Capital.

The program, which involves expected investment of US$124mn financed by development bank CAF, is designed to develop 4,500km of fiber optic backbone that will extend the current Santa Fe provincial data network. In addition, two projects are included to deploy Wi-Fi in the two main cities of the province: Rosario and Santa Fe.

In this stage, awarded to companies Acertis and Coivalsa with electronic equipment from Tecnored, it includes six sections in a 1,100km line from Santa Fe city to Gato Colorado.

There are three other stages that correspond to the areas from Santa Fe to Florencia, Rosario and the downtown area and Rosario to the south of the province.

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The cooperative of the city of Santa Rosa in La Pampa province announced that this month the direct-to-home fiber optic network will be operational in the downtown area. It is about 45km of optical cabling that covers some 140 blocks.

The cooperative has a US$500,000 plan to renew its HFC network for home fiber optics, benefiting some 5,000 users in the city.

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Esquel approved the regulation for the use and development of fiber optic infrastructure in the Patagonian city that provides for the sharing of infrastructure between providers.

From now on, companies must register and present their project for laying fiber optics to the public works ministry. The companies that develop fiber in the city will have the obligation to rent the infrastructure to other providers.