Huawei helps Vivo deploy WDM links across the Amazon

Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. says it has helped Vivo, a major telecommunications company in Brazil and a unit of Telefonica, to successfully deploy the first WDM connection crossing the Amazon River and the Amazon rainforest. The WDM lines connect two Brazilian state capitals: Amazonas' capital Manaus and Pará's capital Belém. The connection is capable of supporting transmission of voice as well as broadband data services.

Manaus, the largest city in the Amazon Basin located in the deep rainforests, needed an increase in traffic capacity of voice and data to support the growing use of telecommunications in the city. As one of the 2014 FIFA World Cup host cities, Manaus will also have a huge number of football fans visiting the city from around the world in 2014 and will definitely see a surge in demand for mobile broadband services. To support traffic in the future, Vivo decided to build the world's first WDM lines that cross the Amazon River and Amazon rainforest to connect Manaus to the country's high-speed fiber-optic networks. The project will boost the city's network capacity and greatly benefit the 3.7 million people living in Amazonas, says Huawei.

The 2100-km-long WDM lines connect over 20 cities in the Amazon rainforest and include five “super-long” spans (200 km to 261 km). Vivo and Huawei say the deployment was challenging in the rough terrain and harsh environment of the rainforest. The companies also had to follow strict working procedure in rainforests, and employ all possible means of transportations such as planes, four-wheel drives, freighters, speedboats, and even rafts to transport personnel and equipment.

Huawei says its next-generation WDM/OTN platform is perfect for application in this vast and sparsely populated area because it supports WDM transmission over a single span longer than 300 km. The current networks support 40G wavelengths and can evolve to 100G in the future.

President of Huawei Brazil, Veni Shone, said, "Vivo and Huawei's collaboration and dedication have changed the history of communications in Amazon forever. We are very pleased and honored to cooperate with Vivo to provide even better communications services to the Brazilian people."

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