The Amazon’s rivers, long considered the region’s natural highways, are also becoming 21st-century digital corridors. An unprecedented engineering project is installing kilometers of submerged fiber-optic cables in a region marked by forests, floods, currents, and continental distances, connecting communities where internet service was previously nonexistent, slow, or precarious. Budgeted at R$1.3 billion, the North Connected program seeks to bring connectivity to 70 locations in six Amazon states through nine infoways, totaling 13,200 kilometers of cabling laid in the beds of major rivers—including the Amazon, Tapajós, Madeira, and Tocantins.
Although it was launched in 2020, the expansion of North Connected gained momentum mainly after the 2021 5G auction, which allocated funds and set connectivity obligations in the Amazon. At COP30, the program gained visibility as a showcase of sustainable innovation in telecommunications and was recognized as one of the conference’s legacies, held in Belém in 2025. The Spectrum Management Entity (EAF), responsible for implementing six of the nine infoways, has delivered 2,400 kilometers of cables for infoways 2, 3, and 4.
For the next phase, infoways 5, 6, and 8 are planned, totaling another 3,179 kilometers of continuous extension by 2028. “This is the largest subfluvial cable-laying project in the world. The cable comes from China, but the technology is entirely Brazilian and executed by Brazilians,” says Gina Marques, CEO of EAF. The operation is complex because the cables are installed directly on riverbeds, often amid strong currents, low visibility, and large variations between dry and flood periods. The program requires hiring professional divers to perform tasks such as laying, positioning, and anchoring fiber-optic cables, which can involve up to 50 people.
The completed infoways in Amapá, Pará, Amazonas, and Roraima have already expanded internet connectivity in schools, hospitals, and universities, and the infrastructure is gradually reaching riverine municipalities, Indigenous villages, and remote areas. “The social impact is very large. Connectivity opens a window to the world and brings improvements in education, health, and access to markets for Amazon producers,” Marques says.
The North has lower rates of internet access through fiber optics—about 71% of connected households use cable or fiber, compared with a national average of 73%—and, at the same time, depends more on mobile connections: 15% of connected households access the internet mainly through mobile networks, above the national average of 11%, according to the 2025 ICT Households survey. In more remote and less urbanized regions, dependence on satellites is greater, a market dominated by Starlink, a SpaceX subsidiary.
The commitments made in the 5G auction, in the view of specialists, were a milestone in the region’s evolution of connectivity. Despite the advances, the challenge remains significant. About 20% of the population in the North still lacks internet access, with approximately 400 municipalities remaining disconnected or having insufficient coverage.
“Expanding connectivity remains a strategic agenda for the coming years,” says Leonardo Donato, lead telecom partner for Latin America at consulting firm EY. In this scenario, he highlights the combination of the work of large national operators, which already have a consolidated presence in the region, and the strengthening of a local ecosystem of entrepreneurs and regional providers, who have been investing in and expanding their roles in the Amazon telecommunications chain.
According to Edson Holanda, a board member of the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel), the 5G bidding notice and projects that expand connectivity in the Amazon bring sovereignty to the region. “It is the state enabling infrastructure that the private sector would not build on its own because of the high costs. The projects will enable the development of a digital economy, with enormous benefits for the population,” says Holanda, who chairs Gaispi, the group that coordinates and supervises several obligations related to the implementation of 5G in the 3.5 GHz band.
The group is discussing with EAF the creation of a professional training program, including technical courses in telecommunications aimed at training workers for the sector in roles such as installers and network operators, as well as in cybersecurity and the maintenance of infoways.
The holding of COP30 in Belém added momentum to the telecom market. It helped accelerate projects that were already planned, according to Miércio Alcântara Neto, deputy director of the Technology Institute at the Federal University of Pará (UFPA). The capital of Pará alone saw 40 new 4G and 5G antenna sites installed as a result of the event, along with free public Wi-Fi, 100 Gbps internet links, and the modernization of the state data center. Major operators strengthened the signal and expanded 5G coverage in other Amazon capitals, while also expanding 4G coverage in more rural regions. “COP30 gave it a little push. Investments that had been planned were carried out more quickly,” Neto says.
