LUXEMBOURG -- Following a series of successful collaborations to close the digital divide, Colombian local connectivity service provider INRED and SES announced today they will deliver high-throughput satellite services for Colombia’s Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies (MinTic) to support digital inclusion projects across the country. INRED will utilise SES’s Managed Enterprise service delivered via its Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) satellites to connect 300 new sites, including those in remote areas that cannot be reached by traditional, fiber-based terrestrial networks.

As part of the project called “Zonas Comunitarias para la Paz”, INRED will provide free Wi-Fi services to historically unconnected areas across Colombia via SES’s high throughput SES-17 and SES-14 satellites. The enhanced connectivity services will allow INRED to quickly deliver broadband services to 300 sparsely-populated areas, with the ability to easily scale up capacity in the future if needed.

INRED and SES have been collaborating with the Colombian government for six years and have connected more than 2,000 sites in some of the most hard-to-reach areas of the country, ensuring that more people and businesses have equitable access to social and economic opportunities.

After an extensive evaluation process, SES was selected based on its reliable and scalable service, and dedicated resources available to support the project. SES's Managed Enterprise Service is a turnkey managed service that enables customers such as INRED to deliver ultra-reliable, high-performance broadband services to any remote business site. SES will be able to install very-small-aperture terminals (VSATs) quickly, allowing INRED to meet the aggressive timelines for completing the project.

“SES’ satellite technologies provide INRED with the ability to easily scale up capacity to meet MinTic’s requirements, while reducing the overall cost and complexity of bringing connectivity to more rural and isolated areas of Colombia,” says John Ureña, Chief Executive Officer of INRED. “Most importantly, this satellite network will help pave the way to a better social and economic future for the people of Colombia.”

“At SES we are committed to supporting our partners to close the digital divide. We have previously enabled INRED to connect nearly one million people in 1300 sites across Colombia with Wi-Fi access,” said Omar Trujillo, Vice President of Enterprise Americas at SES. “By expanding our collaboration with INRED, we can bring more technology-based services to more people across the region to help them take advantage of tools and resources that can help generate new opportunities.”