In the country’s latest initiative to improve fixed line connectivity for its population, Argentinian telecommunications regulator Enacom has approved funding for a programme to provide broadband internet in houses built and financed by the state.
According to the BNamericas website, the Viviendas Digitales (Digital Homes) programme aims to promote the implementation of last-mile projects in areas that the country’s housing ministry has targeted for the building of homes.
The outlay for the project is said to be 3 billion pesos (about US$20.47 million), though the actual number of homes involved hasn’t yet been announced.
The resources for the two-year programme will come from the country’s universal service trust fund. Such funds, often called Universal Service and Access Funds (USAFs) have been used by governments in Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries since the 1980s and 1990s to address telecommunication-related gaps.
The regulator has also approved the Chaco Conectado project involving 500 million pesos (about US$3.4 million). The initiative aims to deploy networks for access to ICT services in underserved areas of Chaco province in northeast Argentina, extending and updating the backbone network infrastructure.
In fact a number of fibre connectivity projects have been announce in Argentina over recent months, including plans to connect some 2,700 schools with internet services; fibre deployment in San Juan province and Santa Fe province; and the Programme for the Development of the Federal Fibre Optic Network (REFEFO).
