The vice president of the National Communications Entity (Enacom), Gustavo López, highlighted this Friday the agency’s decision to extend the Federal Fiber Optic Network (Refefo) in several provinces, with the aim of moving towards connectivity that “is a human right essential”.
The objective of the network extension project approved in recent hours by Enacom is extend the capillarity of the Jujuy, Salta and Tucumán network by up to 590 kilometers, and connect 17 new locations in Northwest Argentina (NOA).
The Argentine Satellite Solutions Company (Arsat) will be in charge of executing the project, with funds that will come from the Universal Service Trust Fund.
“When we began our management at Enacom, we maintained that communication is a basic human right and that connectivity was essential to build citizenship,” López said in a dialogue this morning with Télam Radio.
López recalled that, in August 2020, the national government declared telecommunications as public services, so having connectivity “was not a right of a privileged few who had money to do so.”
“But the State had to develop public policies to demonstrate that connectivity was indeed a right, and we did so,” he added.
In this sense, López listed the programs that are being carried out with his administration, such as the Refefo strengthening plan, “which is the state wholesale network that is managed through Arsat.”
Also, highlighted the connectivity for popular neighborhoods since “fundamentally we have brought, through SMEs and cooperatives, connectivity to more than 500 popular neighborhoods in the great north of Argentina”.
He also mentioned the plan to enter areas of difficult access such as the Puna, achieve connectivity in towns with up to 30,000 inhabitants, and special plans for towns with less than 2,000 inhabitants.
Finally, López stated that these plans are developing works with an investment of around $4,000 million in “popular neighborhoods, in small towns, in towns with fewer than 500 inhabitants, towns with up to 2,000 inhabitants, towns with up to 30,000 inhabitants. and the extension of the network.
“The private ones, as they state that communication is a business, go to places where there is purchasing power to develop networks, consumption or high consumption,” concluded Gustavo López.
