Convergencia Research, Consultoría especializada en Latinoamérica y Caribe
Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Davitel deploys 100 kilometers of fiber optics to provide Internet and ICT to Vaca Muerta

Mario Carranza, president of Davitel, confirmed that they will begin offering services in July, after the completion of the installation in Añelo, in the province of Neuquén. There Vaca Muerta, one of Argentina's largest reserves of unconventional gas and oil is located.

"Our vision is to become the first provider of fiber optic connectivity in Vaca Muerta, with integrated services and solutions over the Internet, from a simple IP transit to IoT applied to society and industry", Mario Carranza, president of the company from Neuquén, Davitel, an SME provider of broadband, deeply rooted in the Patagonian province, said to Convergencialatina.

It should be emphasized that despite the devaluation of the Argentine peso and the scarcity of financing, the necessary investments were made for the construction of this millionaire enterprise by an SME, said Carranza.

The project Davitel began in 2013 when the existence of the deposit whose reserves are equivalent to 20 GDP of Argentina became public. The deployment is currently advanced and starts in the city of Neuquén, to the north along 100 kilometers, posted in urban areas and buried in open areas.

The initiative includes more than 1,000 poles. The intermediate equipment has already been placed and the lighting of the FO is imminent. The aerial laying of the urban areas is already finished and it is expected that the burial work of the open areas will end at the end of June. Soon they will be providing service in the wine region of San Patricio del Chañar, where dozens of wineries of different sizes are growing and are in continuous growth.

The laying continues to Añelo, where Vaca Muerta is located, one of Argentina's largest reservoirs of unconventional gas and oil (ranked second and fourth, respectively, worldwide). In this field -which expands over a rocky territory of 30,000 square km belonging to five Argentine provinces-, the country expects to obtain gas and oil to export and in five years balance its balance of payments. The area is exploited by complex technologies to extract hydrocarbons at 3,000 meters deep, by national and multinational oil companies.

The established industry, which has developed in Añelo epicenter for more than five years, demanded robust and efficient communication services. Davitel, explained Carranza, aims to connect businesses and residents with latest ICT services. The oil companies plan to use predictive technologies based on IoT and Artificial Intelligence in Argentina, which they already use in the United States, for example, and allowed them to increase production by 30% in order to determine the optimal points to drill.

The ICT services Davitel will provide are: fixed and mobile Internet, fixed and mobile telephony, OTT digital television, LoRaWan network deployment, Internet of Things (IoT); and citizen WiFi. All benefits are projected for companies and the resident community. At the Internet Day 2019 event, in mid-May, Carranza highlighted the need for connectivity of the 10,000 people who enter Añelo on a daily basis, most of whom belong to the oil industry. In addition, he called the sector to invest in the region, regardless of the price of the dollar: "The area is virgin land for many products that can be brought, but without fiber, growing is not possible", he said.

This oil city in full development can become one of the first smart cities of Argentina if the companies and the inhabitants propose future perspectives and sustainability. And that is the goal that the audacious entrepreneur Carranza dreams of.

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