The governor of Puerto Rico, Pedro R. Pierluisi, together with the director of the Puerto Rico Broadband Program, Enrique Völckers Nin and the chief technology officer of the Government of Puerto Rico, Antonio Ramos Guardiola announced the disbursement of $15 million for the first phase of the project that provides energy resilience to internet and telecommunications service providers across the island and which is part of the initiative known as Smart Island.

“We are at a momentous moment in which access to the internet and telecommunications is no longer a luxury but an essential service and we are fully committed to ensuring that all our people can count on that access. This includes improvements to have high-speed internet throughout Puerto Rico, the deployment of broadband infrastructure around the island, internet in all public squares and in all citizen service centers, as well as in critical facilities, and resilience in telecommunications services,” explained the chief executive, who during his most recent visit to Washington D.C. last week, announced the allocation of $158 million by the Department of the Treasury for the implementation of broadband projects and telecommunications connectivity around the entire island.

The governor added that “telecommunications form an important part of the initiative's goals. Smart Island, which are: connectivity, quality of service, accessibility and knowledge. For this reason, we developed the Resilient and Robust Internet Program to which we allocated $30 million and today we are announcing the disbursement of the first phase, which includes the allocation of $15 million to provide energy resilience to internet and telecommunications service providers across the island. For my administration, it is crucial to prioritize the development of energy and resilient infrastructure, which is consistent with our public energy policy. It is essential that the energy and telecommunications networks can withstand the challenges that arise, in order to keep our communities connected, informed and safe.”

Those assigned will be provided to ten internet providers across the island so that they can purchase electric generators, solar panels and batteries, and thus ensure uninterrupted service in the event of an emergency. The selected projects are rapidly implemented, in order to have an alternative energy backup for your telecommunications infrastructure and minimize the loss of internet and telecommunications connectivity on the Island.

For his part, Völckers-Nin, explained that “the proponents were selected after an analysis of the proposals we received after announcing a Request for Proposals (RFP) last May. These suppliers included details on the design and installation of projects that can provide uninterrupted power to telecommunications facilities, as well as their fuel storage and distribution systems with a minimum capacity of 10 days of continuous operations.”

Meanwhile, Ramos Guardiola said that “thanks to infrastructure improvements to key telecommunications facilities that will mitigate the loss of Internet connectivity in Puerto Rico, citizens will be able to count on a more stable service. In this way, at PRITS, we continue to lead the digital transformation of the Government of Puerto Rico, as established by Governor Pedro Pierluisi's public policy, and we ensure that citizens receive digitized government services, in their time and convenience.”

The selected companies will be responsible for ensuring the implementation and operation of monitoring and control systems so that, remotely, they can provide continuity to the performance of the energy infrastructure and detect any problems before they cause service interruptions. They will also be responsible for the development and execution of training for technical personnel responsible for the operation and maintenance of the resilient energy infrastructure, as well as the design and implementation of the security infrastructure in the telecommunications facility, among other details.

The companies selected are Aero Net with $2,018,195.77 for diesel generators; Claro with $2,891,598.56 for generators, batteries and monitoring system (location security); DM Wireless with $554,174.74 for solar system and batteries; Innovatel with $1,117,062.09 for generators; IT Auditors with $259,420.68 for generators, solar system and batteries; Liberty with $3,449,132.22 for batteries and generators; Neptune with $2,018,273.78 for solar system and generators; Sky Net with $212,035.40 for solar system and generators; VP Net with $1,355,545.59 for solar system and generators and WorldNet with $1,124,561.17 for batteries, generators and emergency equipment upgrade and redundancy.

“Our agenda related to this industry is ambitious and at the same time a priority for our people, because we all recognize that technology is an indispensable part of the proper functioning of our government, of the development of companies, and of improving our capacity to provide services to our people. I reiterate my commitment that Puerto Rico is a model of high speed internet access that results in greater connectivity and accessibility for all our people,” concluded the chief executive.

For additional details of the Puerto Rico Broadband Program, you can visit https://www.smartisland.pr.gov.

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