This is a machine translation of a press release from the Brazilian Ministry of Communications
Brasília-DF – Students from 265 public schools across the country are returning to classes in February, with free broadband internet available via satellite and terrestrial connections. The Ministry of Communications (MCom) installed access points in these educational institutions earlier this year through the Internet Brazil Program. A total of 282 Internet connections were provided in 19 states in the first 40 days of government. The vast majority were sent to communities in the Northeast (216).
“One of the goals of Wi-Fi Brasil is to enable public schools to have Internet access in regions where they have the lowest development rates in our country. With this we want to promote the digital and social inclusion of our population, starting with the children. “They have a high-quality education that promotes development and guarantees opportunities,” emphasized the Minister of Communications, Juscelino Filho.
Wi-Fi Brasil not only serves schools, but also installs antennas and routers free of charge in locations such as settlements, Basic Health Units (UBS), indigenous, Quilombola or river communities and community telecentres. An example of this was the deployment of 17 antennas in support of humanitarian aid in the Yanomami countries. They are all access points with a satellite connection speed of 20 megabits per second.
The antennas receive the signal sent by the Geostationary Defense and Strategic Communications Satellite (SGDC), the first Brazilian satellite designed exclusively for high-speed data transmission in the Ka-band, covering the entire state territory and the Blue Amazon. The satellite was developed by the Ministry of Communications with support from Telebras and is in orbit over Ecuador at an altitude of 36,000 km.
SERVICE — The state with the highest number of installed internet points in 2023 is Piauí with 60 units. They are followed by Maranhão (44), Pernambuco (32), Ceará (31) and Bahia (30). The region is a priority for public connectivity policies as it has the lowest internet usage indicators in the country, according to data from the ICT Households 2021 survey by the Regional Center for Studies in Information Society Development (Cetic.br). and the National Household Sample Survey (PNAD).
HOW TO REQUEST THE SERVICE — To request the service, simply access the “GET GESAC internet connection” link and fill out the form. In addition to the contractual and financial availability, the answering of inquiries depends on the technical analysis. If the request is approved, the estimated time to provide the service is 60 to 90 days. For information or questions, you can contact us by phone at (61) 2027.6403 or by email at [email protected]
