The Colombian government has canceled the bidding process to deploy a network of more than 1,600 kilometers of fiber optic cable in the Amazon region, after identifying financial and technical risks associated with the project.

The initiative, promoted by the Ministry of ICT, sought to bring high-capacity connectivity to hard-to-reach areas of Amazonas and Putumayo, with a projected investment of approximately 1.14 trillion Colombian pesos and a financing term of 10.5 years.

The project aimed to connect nearly 100,000 households and 227,000 people through a combination of sub-river, terrestrial, and cross-border fiber infrastructure. However, the technical and economic complexity of the deployment has led the government to withdraw the procurement process.

A strategic network to connect Colombia with Brazil

The project had been designed to deploy fiber optic cables across the Putumayo and Amazon rivers, connecting towns such as Puerto Asís, Puerto Leguízamo, Leticia, and Puerto Nariño to the Colombian backbone network and to Brazil.

Its scope went beyond bridging the digital divide in Amazonian communities. The design called for creating an international connectivity corridor linking Colombia’s infrastructure to Brazil’s InfoVías network and the South American Crossing (SAC) submarine cable, which lands in Buenaventura.

This system would have allowed for the establishment of alternative routes for data traffic between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, strengthening the resilience of Colombia’s telecommunications infrastructure.

The project had been given the green light this May, when the government approved CONPES 4195, which guaranteed the necessary resources for its implementation, operation, and maintenance through 2035. At that time, the Ministry of ICT presented it as one of the main digital infrastructure initiatives aimed at reducing the country’s connectivity gaps.

The cancellation highlights the difficulties involved in building large telecommunications networks in territories with particularly complex geography.

The project was to combine overland and sub-river sections and traverse a vast region with low population density and limited physical infrastructure. These conditions increased both construction costs and the risks associated with the network’s operation and maintenance.

The decision does not necessarily mean that plans for Amazonian connectivity have been abandoned. The government must now determine how to rethink the project and which deployment model might be technically and financially viable.

The strategic importance of the initiative remains. In addition to connecting communities that currently have limited access to digital services, the infrastructure was designed to integrate the Colombian Amazon into national and international backbone networks.

This case highlights one of the main challenges facing Latin America in the development of digital infrastructure: bringing high-capacity fiber to areas where conventional deployment is too costly or technically complex.

For Colombia, the challenge will now be to find an alternative that allows it to maintain the goal of connecting the Amazon without assuming the risks that led to the cancellation of the original bid.

This piece was automatically translated from DCD's Spanish site and edited by a member of DCD staff.