Challenges and Opportunities of Connecting a Landlocked Country

16/10/2024

Due to geographical reasons, the Internet is not always directly accessible in every country. Landlocked or ‘mediterranean’ countries lack direct access to landing stations and submarine cables, part of the critical structure needed to maintain and support connectivity between different countries and continents.In such cases, they must rely on terrestrial infrastructure from neighboring countries to connect to submarine cables.

In the LAC region, countries like Paraguay and Bolivia face this situation. This reliance on infrastructure in neighboring countries to connect to submarine cables presents various challenges, which were discussed during “Connecting a Landlocked Country,” a panel organized at LACNIC 42, held in Asunción, Paraguay. The panel featured Paraguay’s Minister of Information and Communication Technologies (MITIC), Gustavo Villate; Walter Godoy, COO of Giganet SA, an ISP; Victor Talavera, TIGO representative; and Carlos Sanabria of PIT Bolivia, the Bolivian Internet Exchange, and was moderated by Uesley Correa, CEO of Telecom ISP Solutions.

Correa began by explaining that the number of Internet users in Paraguay grew by 31.7% from 2019 to 2024, but that 1,29 million people remained unconnected at the start of 2024. Numbers suggest that approximately 18.7% of the population is still unconnected, a situation that demands “continued efforts to close the digital divide once and for all.” Paraguay’s broadband speed also saw an increase of approximately 60% between 2022 and 2024.

Seeking to inspire other countries to continue to increase their connectivity levels even if they have no direct access to the sea, Villate noted that Paraguay’s main challenge is to create the right conditions to attract private investments, which is mainly accomplished by “creating incentives for the private sector to continue strengthening the networks connecting the submarine cables.” He added that today the country has connections through various routes via Bolivia, Argentina, and Brazil. “Reducing costs is another challenge, as routing through other countries introduces various fees and taxes. The goal is to further improve relations with neighboring countries to ensure better access to connectivity,” he added.

Villate also mentioned they are promoting a modernization of the Telecommunications Law and advancing in the extension of operators’ licenses, particularly for 4G and 5G. “This is extremely helpful when it comes to last-mile implementations, particularly in areas that are difficult to reach with fiber optics. In parallel, we are working on an infrastructure bill to overcome municipal barriers, such as fees and taxes, that affect the installation of both fiber optics and wireless systems,” he explained. Finally, he stressed that, at the regional level, it is necessary to focus on a digital agenda that prioritizes improving infrastructure and has an impact on the regional digital economy as a whole.

In turn, Talavera recalled that just a few years back the problem for Paraguay was that it relied on “how good the infrastructure of neighboring countries was” and emphasized that, while competition between ISPs was the norm, today’s focus is on coopetition and collaboration: “The market demands increasingly more and better connectivity, which has led to a much healthier ecosystem where all local players must improve the number of external links and their availability. We are also exploring strategies to keep content within the country,” he noted.

In this sense, Talavera mentioned that data centers are “very important yet silent” players.While geography and distance will not change, strategies for bringing content closer to clients will evolve. “Here, the role of data centers is key, as they allow content to remain secure within national borders thanks to high standards and security certifications. At the same time, they attract major content providers such as Google and Facebook, whose aim is to improve user experience and access to the content itself.”

Next, Godoy noted that relying on the connectivity of neighboring countries and using part of their infrastructure “leads to problems such as increased response times and connectivity issues, which is why more investment is needed to increase the number of available options.” He then explained that they “were the first company that dared to bet on and invest in deploying infrastructure and reaching as many areas as possible” and that along the way they encountered obstacles such as high operational costs and licensing issues.

Godoy also pointed out that in 2016 they were one of the first private companies outside the telephony sector to have fiber optic connectivity with Brazil through the Paraná River. “We currently have four connections with Brazil, and our first connection with Argentina was implemented a year ago. The second connection with Argentina was added just a few months ago, specifically for an IXP project, and we are currently negotiating an interconnection with PIT Chile.”

Sanabria then spoke about the situation in Bolivia, explaining that until a few years ago there were only 3,000 km of fiber optic network. Currently, however, just one of the operators has nearly 30,000 km. “This may seem like a lot, but there are 32,000 towns in our country, only 25,000 of which are connected. Meanwhile, up until two years ago almost three million people lacked mobile coverage,” he commented. To conclude, he stressed that IXPs are “critical infrastructure for the operation and stability of all services connected to the Internet, particularly given Bolivia’s varied and challenging geography,” and generate “significant operational savings.”

The recording of this session presented at LACNIC 42- LACNOG 2024 held in Asunción is available at the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdVwkYrycLA