The state-owned company Arsat has invested US$30 million in the last three years in updating the Federal Fiber Optic Network, which will increase and ensure connectivity throughout the national territory during the next decade.
“Since the pandemic, data consumption has increased and the network has reached a saturation level; the update that we did and that we will complete in three weeks ensures a network that will be able to respond to demand, a network for 10 years“, said this Wednesday the president of Arsat, the state company for satellite solutions, Facundo Leal.
The federal fiber optic network, with its 34,000 illuminated kilometers, runs through the entire country, bringing internet in wholesale mode to hundreds of SMEs, cooperatives and also large telecommunications companies, which reach users’ homes with their own networks .
Arsat’s management team also highlighted the progress made in the open digital television network (TDA), which, with an investment of US$ 3.5 million, managed to renovate the 100 towers to ensure coverage of 83% of the population.
Upgrading the network required an investment of US$30 million and “was not a simple challenge” since the equipment providers changed, both for the “core” of the network and for the plates that are placed in the different sections.
After this update is complete, Arsat will be able to deliver 100 Gigahertz capacities to companies.
The network was changing compared to how it was initially thought in 2010. “At Arsat we are already planning to expand services and projecting what type of demand we will have in the coming years,” said the firm’s corporate manager, Anabel Cisneros, during a contact with the press.
As an example of the projection of demand, Cisneros indicated that Currently, the network can carry out mobile return transport (backhold) for 2, 3 and even 4G networks. Looking to the near future, “we have to prepare for 5G”, the manager noted.
Among other investments, Arsat recovered remnant decoders from previous efforts and with a view to “reactivating satellite distribution”, they signed agreements with the Ministry of Social Development and with provinces such as Salta, Santiago del Estero, Tierra del Fuego, La Rioja, among others.
Arsat’s management team also highlighted the progress made in the open digital television network (TDA), which with an investment of US$ 3.5 million managed to renovate the 100 towers to ensure coverage of 83% of the population.
Among other investments, Arsat recovered decoders left over from previous administrations and with a view to “reactivating satellite distribution,” they signed agreements with the Ministry of Social Development and with provinces such as Salta, Santiago del Estero, Tierra del Fuego, La Rioja, among others.
These boxes are for those who have televisions that were manufactured before the year 2014, or for those who are outside of the TDA land coverage area.
In the data center, work is being done on the creation of a hybrid cloud where to locate data, and the “decentralization” policy was addressed with the acquisition of a new property in Bariloche
They also highlighted the work done in the Arsat data center, which has one of the highest global certifications, Tier3, and has expanded its client portfolio, which is now made up of 85% public sector and 15% private sector.
In the data center, work is being done on the creation of a hybrid cloud where to locate data, and the “decentralization” policy was addressed with the acquisition of a new property in Bariloche.
The first data center will be installed in Rio Negro territory outside of the one in Benavidez, in the province of Buenos Aires, with a space of 12,000 square meters.
“All these projects seek to close the digital divide”; remarked Leal, whose company agreed on the connectivity of primary health care centers throughout the country as well as 54,000 schoolsFacundo Leal-President of Arsat
“Arsat is a self-sufficient company,” Leal said, emphasizing that for both the Data Center and the satellites in use, “the export of services is key”:
In the case of satellites, to the Arsat 1 and Arsat 2 put into orbit in the years 2010 and 2015, respectively, there is now the contracting for 42 months of the capacity of the SES17 satellite that operates in the KA band.the same one in which the ArsatSG1 will operate when it is in orbit in 2025.
“All these projects seek to close the digital divide”; remarked Leal, whose company agreed on the connectivity of primary health care centers throughout the country as well as 54,000 schools.
