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Internet Para Todos (IPT) Making Progress in Connecting The Unconnected Peruvians

(click on image for larger version)

I have written couple of posts on 'Internet Para Todos' a.k.a. 'Internet For All' on The 3G4G Blog and 3G4G Small Cells Blog. It was good to hear an update on the programme at TIP Summit 2019 in Amsterdam. 

 I have embedded the video of the presentation below but here is a quick summary from Justin Springham in Mobile World Live from TIPSummit19:

 Internet para Todos (IpT), a wholesale operator owned by Telefonica, Facebook, and Latin American banks IDB Invest and CAF Bank, opened talks to bring a second operator on board, after connecting more than 650 sites and covering 800,000 people (450,000 actual customers) with a 4G rollout in rural Peru.

 The initiative, only up and running since May 2019, is regarded as something of a poster child for OpenRAN technology, with vendor Parallel Wireless supplying compatible kit for more than half of those mobile sites (reports suggest Huawei is the other vendor, supplying more traditional equipment).

 “Internet para Todos is serving Telefonica now but we are talking to other mobile operators: we hope to have a second MNO in 2020,” said IpT’s CTO Renan Ruiz during a keynote presentation.

(click on image for larger version)

Ruiz is confident the business model can be replicated in other rural areas around the world. “Our MNO partners can expand coverage and grow customers without spending capex,” he explained, adding the deployment acts as a “network as a service” model available to all MNOs.

 IpT deploys, operates and owns the mobile infrastructure in the rollout.

 In the Peru launch, Telefonica supplied around 3,000 sites (meaning many more are yet to be switched on), Facebook added capital and technology, and the two banks added further funding.

 Another 1,000 greenfield sites will also be switched on.

 The initiative makes use of new approaches to network deployment, using OpenRAN and RAN sharing technologies, along with disruptive new backhaul technologies including High Altitude Platform Stations (HAPS) and, in the operations area, cloud-based predictive analytics.

The video in the tweet gives a quick summary of IPT


In another recent news, Telefonica announced that Loon and Internet para todos have signed contract to bring balloon-powered Internet to Telefónica customers in Perú

Loon and IpT will initially provide service in certain locations that make up around 15 percent of Loreto’s area and where nearly 200,000 people live. About a quarter of them lack 3G or better service, and many others lack any reliable mobile service at all outside of populated areas. The deployment of Loon in Peru will make it the first country in Latin America to use this innovative connectivity solution on a sustained, non-emergency basis.

 Loon and Telefónica in Peru started collaborating in 2014 when early tests of Loon´s technology began. In 2017 when the El Niño floods devastated parts of Northern Peru, Loon worked with Telefónica to provide Internet connectivity to those in need in an area over 40,000 Km² in size. Earlier this year when a magnitude 8.0 earthquake struck Peru, the two companies were able again to provide emergency connectivity. This agreement marks an important milestone in their collaboration and the result of the extensive work by the Loon, Telefónica del Perú and IpT teams over the last few years.

 Launched last May, Internet para Todos Perú is a neutral-host Rural Mobile Infrastructure Operator in Peru focused on offering mobile internet connectivity in rural areas to any Mobile Network Operator (MNO) willing to use its services on a wholesale basis. With a strong focus on innovation to provide sustainable service, IpT will leverage Loon for hard-to-reach areas, complementing its terrestrial network and, initially, managing the service for Telefónica del Perú, first MNO to use the technology on a commercial basis in Latin America. 

 More than 800,000 people living in around 5,300 rural communities in Peru have now access to mobile internet thanks to IpT. The aim is to connect over 30,000 communities by 2021 for the bicentennial of Peru.

Here is the video from TIP Summit

Facebook TIP Summit 2019 102148_Plenary_Renan Ruiz_V001 from Telecom Infra Project on Vimeo.

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Comments

  1. Anonymous25 November 2019 at 09:31

    Hi

    thanks for sharring info about IpT.

    Some short technical questions
    1. What kind of network does IpT cover? is it 2G3G and 4G? or only 4G?

    2. What frequencies does IpT use?

    3. Why not 5g? Do I understand correctly because openran is not ready for 5g? when it will be?

    4. Is Carrier aggregarion possible in mixed mode? Lets say that other MNOs would join but they would have own network where IpT operates. Can MNOs do CA within LTE with LTE freq. from IpT? I understand thats possible only when other MNOs have the core? in other words IpT is just RAN?
    5. What is the difference between IpT model vs Moran from technical point of view?

    Business model
    5. How much money does teletonica pay to IpT? What is the share of revenue?
    6. Is this ARPU rev share or based on traffic?
    6. Do they share revenue that is generated from users in that rural region only? or do they share rev also generated from people who visit rural places but live in cities??
    best,
    Paul

    ReplyDelete
  2. Zahid Ghadialy1 December 2019 at 12:13

    Lots of questions here. I don't know about the business models but let me try and answer the technical ones

    >> 1. What kind of network does IpT cover? is it 2G3G and 4G? or only 4G?
    As far as I understand, there are already existing 2G/3G base stations. IPT is adding only 4G

    >> 2. What frequencies does IpT use?
    Not sure

    >> 3. Why not 5g? Do I understand correctly because openran is not ready for 5g? when it will be?
    Because most people still don't have 4G, 4G is necessary for NSA 5G. The devices are expensive, people can't afford to buy new 5G phones, etc. OpenRAN is all Gs, 2G - 5G.

    >> 4. Is Carrier aggregarion possible in mixed mode? Lets say that other MNOs would join but they would have own network where IpT operates. Can MNOs do CA within LTE with LTE freq. from IpT? I understand thats possible only when other MNOs have the core? in other words IpT is just RAN?
    IPT will provide coverage where there is none. As far as I understand, they are using Telefonica Spectrum but will offer services to others based on MOCN (see our tutorial here). In this approach, CA with other operators won't work. All operators (MNOs) need a core.

    >> 5. What is the difference between IpT model vs Moran from technical point of view?
    MOCN as explained above

    ReplyDelete

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