In Café de Briceño connected with the world, we ended 2020 fulfilling one of our objectives: to ensure high-speed and low-cost Internet connectivity using TV White Spaces technology, in rural schools Palmichal, Gurimán el Hoyo, Gurimán la Loma, Roblal, Travesías and El Respaldo, located in the Briceño – Palmichal corridor.
The internet connection of these schools is the key to promoting academic and technological development in the territory, which contributes to the improvement of the quality of life of the communities that live in the area.
To meet the objective of providing connectivity, we adjusted our work plan due to the restrictions brought by the pandemic. In September we restar the process and made approaches to companies that could guarantee Internet connection through TVWS technology – TV While Spaces. At the same time, we made progress in contacts with the Mayor’s Office of Briceño and the Government of Antioquia, key actors in the process.
Once the administrative procedures were completed, we signed the contract with the Servtek company, through the Tunet brand, who in December had already carried out the connection process and the technical tests required for operation in the 6 schools in the corridor, plus the tests with the communities. Before the end of 2020, they delivered the equipment to the Mayor’s Office of Briceño and the technical follow-up meeting to establish agreements and actions to promote the proper use of the internet and strengthen schools as centers of knowledge. It should be noted that connectivity is part of the municipality’s goals and therefore there was a commitment and projection to make this process sustainable in the long term.
Today Briceño connects with the world through high quality internet, and training actions are deployed to facilitate access to information, education and research through the network.
TVWS (for its acronym in TV White Spaces) can be defined as the channels that are not being used when we turn on the TV. These channels that we see as a blue, black or gray screen interference, are part of the electromagnetic spectrum that carries the signals to our homes. TVWS technology allows to transmit Internet of high quality and install it in rural areas where by network infrastructure or geography (mountains or forests) are difficult to reach.
Learn more about the Café de Briceño connected to the world by clicking here.