Bringing the Internet to Brazil's Most Remote Amazon Communities

The Amazon region of Brazil, particularly the states of Pará and Maranhão, remains one of the least connected areas in Latin America. Vast geographic distances, dense forest cover and very high infrastructure deployment costs combine to produce low broadband penetration, limited mobile coverage and high prices for digital services. Indigenous communities are particularly affected, cut off from digital public services and economic opportunities. 

Objectives

The project tackles these structural challenges by building a resilient and inclusive digital backbone of submarine and terrestrial fibre-optic infrastructure. The EU contribution focuses on the programme's environmental, digital governance, digital economy and digital inclusion objectives. It is directly aligned with the EU Global Gateway strategy and the EU-LAC Digital Alliance and complements other flagship programmes such as BELLA II (academic connectivity between Europe and Latin America), EllaLink (the Europe-Brazil submarine cable) and Amazonia+ (green and digital inclusion in the Amazon). 

Project activities

The EU contribution covers: 

• A reimbursable advance for a key submarine branching unit, enabling the connection of the future cable.
• The integration of SMART Node technology for underwater environmental and seismic data collection.
• A technical assistance package to strengthen institutional capacities and support a data economy ecosystem, contributing to regional development, cybersecurity and climate data governance. 

These elements complement loans provided by AFD and IDB for lasting digital connectivity infrastructure. 

(Expected) Results

The project will provide: 

• Greater resilience of public digital services through improved security and data management
• Expanded scientific capacity for climate monitoring and adaptation planning.
• Wider broadband coverage, bringing in isolated communities previously left behind.
• Stronger institutional capacities.
• Deeper EU-Brazil collaboration on the data economy. 

Implementing partners

AFD 

IDB