South America Quietly Deploys 5G Networks While Quarantine Takes Place

While countries in South America are on a nationwide lock down, 5G infrastructure is rapidly being deployed on a massive scale. With police and military (in many countries) on the ground, patrolling major highways and cities, enforcing the quarantine, most people don't see what's really going on. MEANWHILE, coronavirus cases begin to spike in March across most of South America! Coincidence?

Internet para Todos Perú (Telefónica, Facebook, CAF and BID joint company) Deploys Hundreds of Parallel Wireless OpenRAN Sites in Latin America  

NASHUA, N.H., March 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Parallel Wireless, Inc., the leading U.S.-based OpenRAN company, today announced that they deployed hundreds of programmable virtualized 4G OpenRAN sites to deliver mobile broadband in Latin America through Internet para Todos Perú (IpT Peru),  a new company launched in May 2019 and owned by Telefónica, Facebook, IDB Invest and CAF banks. IpT Peru aims to provide internet connectivity to users in remote regions of Peru. 

Peru: Military guards patrol the streets while 5G is quietly tested. 

The technology brings much more flexibility and agility to the deployment and management of a telco access network. The Parallel Wireless OpenRAN Controller creates a multi-vendor, multi-operator, open ecosystem of interoperable components for the various RAN elements and from different vendors. All new radio units are self-configured by the software, reducing the need for manual intervention. The self-optimization capability automates optimization across different RANs in IpT Peru's network, utilizing available RAN data from all RAN types (macros and small cells). This creates an open business model, where MNOs can partner with local companies that focus on rural coverage to enable lean cost structure that fits the business case of targeting the long tail of the unconnected and operational simplicity. 

"We have selected Parallel Wireless OpenRAN to help us reduce our network deployment costs through disaggregation of hardware and software, RAN and core virtualization and network automation with real-time SON for deployments across Latin America and 5G readiness.