Azteca Comunicaciones, a Grupo Salinas company, was selected by Colombia's Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications to be a part of the country’s historic high-speed broadband deployment initiative. The contract required Azteca to deploy the country's largest and most modern fiber optics networks as a part of the country’s National Fiber Optic Project under the "Plan Vive Digital" program.

Azteca has picked up Ericsson (News - Alert), which boasts more than 116 year’s presence in the country, as its network partner. Both companies will be collaborating to build out a 4th-generation IP network infrastructure for the country.

The project involves deployment of a suite of products including Ericsson's SSR 8000 family of Smart Services Routers, optical transport and Wi-Fi access points.

397 municipalities in Colombia will benefit from the implementation, according to a recent statement. Even the most remote parts of the country will come under the coverage, the companies said. A rich suit of broadband services will be delivered using Wi-Fi and point-to-multipoint wireless access and people will gain access to competitive services.

This is expected to increase employment and welfare of the population.

“For Colombia, the 'information superhighway' is a fundamental tool to promote national advancement through the use of technology,” said Alexandra Reyes, CEO at Azteca Comunicaciones Colombia. “Together with Ericsson, we will bring high-speed broadband to even the most remote regions of the country. We expect this to result in broad access to competitive services, increased employment and provide better welfare for the population.”

For Ericsson, selection by Azteca marks a major endorsement of its 4th-generation IP network solution, which includes the flagship SSR 8000 family of Smart Services Routers, deployed as core routers; SmartEdge Multi-Service Edge Routers; the SPO 1400 family of Packet Optical Transport Platforms (POTP); and Ericsson Wi-Fi access points, controllers and management.

Scalability of the platforms will allow Azteca to meet future traffic and subscriber growth targets, Ericsson claimed.

Azteca America recently covered the Republican National Convention and Democratic National Convention on the road to one of the most pivotal elections in history for the growing US Hispanic population.

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