Colombia. Cambium Networks implemented the "Centros Digitales" program, Colombia's most ambitious rural connectivity project, which provides free, high-performance Wi-Fi connectivity to 7,468 hard-to-reach rural schools across the country.
In addition to connecting schools, residents of these areas can now find within walking distance of their homes a point to connect their devices and be informed, access online services, take advantage of e-commerce and share information to boost local economies, currently based on agriculture and livestock.
Centros Digitales was announced in 2021 by Colombia's Ministry of Information and Communications Technologies (MinTIC) to bring free broadband internet to schools, colleges and communities. The project provides connectivity to the regions of Antioquia, San Andrés, Atlántico, Caldas, Caquetá, Cesar, Córdoba, Guainía, Guaviare, Huila, La Guajira, Meta, Norte de Santander, Santander, Sucre, Tolima and Vaupés.
"We are very proud to participate in a project of great social impact together with the largest mobile telecommunications provider in Colombia," explains Duglas López, Regional Technical Director for the Andean region of Cambium Networks. "Providing connectivity to remote communities helped them overcome some of the challenges they faced in accessing information and services." The solution includes fixed wireless broadband and Wi-Fi access from Cambium's ONE Network portfolio. It is gratifying to see that people in these communities can now benefit from having access to all the opportunities the digital world offers."
The wide area network (WAN) and wireless local area network (WLAN) solution includes high-performance Wi-Fi, high-capacity fixed wireless broadband, all integrated to be easily managed in the cloud. The deployment includes:
- E510 outdoor Wi-Fi access points
- Access points 410 Wi-Fi for indoor
- Fixed outdoor point-to-point wireless broadband (PTP)
- Fixed wireless point-to-multipoint broadband (PtMP)
- Cloud management system cnMaestro™
The project is fully implemented and is currently in the operation and maintenance phase. To measure success, MinTIC is collecting statistics and performance metrics on network usage and quality, so that both they and the telecom operator can introduce agile, real-time improvements.
