The Programa Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (Pronatel) (National Telecommunications Program) decided to declare void the tender for which it intended to deliver for three years the operation of the Red Dorsal Nacional de Fibra Óptica (RDNFO), the 13,600-kilometer backbone that connects 180 Peruvian cities.

The result puts a huge question mark over the future of the RDNFO. The current offer conditions of the network do not convince the potential interested parties; at the same time, a change in these rules is not immediately foreseen, since they depend on a fine game of consensus between the Executive Branch and Congress to advance new legislation at a time when such a possibility does not exist. In fact, the commission that should analyze the future of the RDNFO is paralyzed.

The contest was to elect the temporary party in charge of management for up to three years by law, until it is defined which model will be applied permanently and a new party in charge, public or private, is appointed.

Why did they fail? Pronatel said that none of the three bidders complied with the terms of reference of the bidding process. Now, it has been archived and there is no clear indication if there will be a new bid in the future. Pronatel has not said anything yet about the future of the RDNFO. The applicants failed for various reasons. Bitel, which participated under the name Viettel, requested a payment of US$129.8 million, above the basic specifications of the tender. The data attracted attention because there was no chance that this offer would advance.

The other two consortiums did make economic proposals within the parameters imposed by Pronatel. Dorsal Perú consortium, made up of Israel's Gilat Network and local Optical Technologies, requested US$102.5 million; meanwhile, Fibra Óptica del Perú consortium, made up of local firms Roca Fuerte EIRL and Lelitv EIRL, offered to take over the RDNFO for just US$53.1 million.

Pronatel rejected both proposals due to doubts regarding the technical “suitability” of both consortiums.

In some Peruvian political sectors, the analysis process carried out by Pronatel was highlighted, in the sense that it was very exhaustive and they recalled that, last February, the by then Minister of Transport and Communications, Juan Silva, resigned after accusations of corruption, including the acceptance of bribes and the exercise of undue influence in public tenders, among which was that of the RDNFO. Recently, the Peruvian media published WhatsApp messages from Silva showing the minister pressuring Pronatel to award the contract to Gilat-Optical consortium.

Postponements. The process suffered several postponements that were justified by the number of queries received. Pronatel detailed that it had 725 queries from 14 companies. Carlos Huamán, from DN Consultores, reported that 110 of the 725 queries were related to the selection process and the requirements established for the company and key personnel.

Among the required conditions was having in the last eight years, income equivalent to what it would require to maintain the Backbone Network and having service experience in the three regions of the country. In relation to key personnel (project director) 10 years of experience was required.

The other 615 queries were related to the management of the Backbone Network and 490 of them corresponded specifically to operational management and the conditions under which the temporary operator will receive the infrastructure, equipment and spare parts from the previous manager, Azteca Communications, which delivered the operation of the RDNFO last January. Since then, Pronatel has taken over the operation while looking for a private operator to whom to deliver the network.

The process suffered several delays. The fifth of them established that the selected one would be known on May 19, but the next day Pronatel announced that this would happen on Monday the 23rd, as it happened. That day, Executive Directorate Resolution No. 227-2022-MTC/24 was also published, approving the service provision contract in which the conditions and obligations to be undertaken by Pronatel and the future operator in charge were established. Among them, it was established that the same current fixed rate (US$23 plus VAT) will continue to be charged, which has been shown to be uncompetitive. In addition, the contract would have an "unlimited duration" and Pronatel could assign its position to any concessionaire that replaces it.

These are the operating conditions that the private sector considers to make it commercially unviable.