CFE and Internet for All Could Complete Its First Phase by 2020

CFETelecom (CFET) and Internet para Todos (Internet for All) presented a national deployment plan this week, which shows all phases of the project and its duration. In mid-October 2019, the Board of Directors of CFET and Internet para Todos, a subsidiary company of the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), created this initiative to “provide telecommunications services without seeking profit.” To support its activities, the Expenditure Budget for 2020 assigned MX$1.095 billion (US$49 million) to the project.

The document presented indicates that the National Plan consists of five phases, which will conclude in 2023 with 6,163 locations reached. At a press conference on Tuesday, Director General of CFET and Internet para Todos Raymundo Artis announced that the first phase of this program is expected to be completed by 2020. "We are talking about (phase) 0, which will connect 3,823 locations. We hope to have this first phase completed this year if everything works well," said Artis.

The government official explained that the "National Plan phase 0" includes 892 rural medical units and 3,314 integration centers, whose data transport capacity will be 4Tbs. According to the report, Mexico City will be the core to strengthen the federal fiber-optic network, providing connectivity to more than 19 states ministries and leading to the possibility of a significant fall in connection prices.

Artis also said that, amid the health crisis caused by COVID-19, CFET and Internet para Todos was required to provide a connection to 18 high-specialty hospitals, of which 11 are in Mexico City. Hospitals, he said, remain a priority to receive this service in the coming months. "We have many hospitals already connected and we will connect more in the coming weeks," said Artis. At hospitals, there will be an open internet system that can be used by users from their smartphones.

CFET and Internet para Todos also signed a contract this week with Altán Redes, a company that operates the county’s shared network, to bring fixed wireless service to rural communities that do not have internet access, with which the state-owned company will become a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO). The project includes the installation of 2,000 fixed wireless internet routers in 1,000 priority rural locations.

"This new alliance will make possible one of the largest projects to eliminate the digital gap and provide connectivity to rural communities in Mexico, which until now have been deprived of this fundamental factor for their social and economic development," CFE said in a statement.