Some of us might find it difficult to imagine not having internet access. Over the past two decades it has become a utility that is as omnipresent as water or electricity for millions of people around the world.
Many communities remain digitally divided, including the people living in the Moquegua region of Peru, around our Quellaveco mine site, due to their distance from the main cities. It was not up until recently, when the Information Management (IM) team in Peru stepped in to address the network infrastructure through the Anglo American-sponsored Connected Communities initiative, that the local communities were able to gain access to the internet.
With a commitment made to the community and aligned with the “Thriving Communities” pillar of our Sustainable Mining Plan to deliver a lasting, positive contribution to local communities through the lifecycle of our operations and beyond, the team spent two and a half years studying the potential and feasibility of building the network infrastructure that could support an internet service for 10 neighbouring rural towns around Quellaveco.
Marlon Vela Saldaña, IM’s Frontline Superintendent at Quellaveco, whose team is involved with the project said: “During the feasibility stage to create the Quellaveco mine, Anglo American made commitments to help support local communities, one being to deliver internet access.
“But there were many technical challenges in realising this. The local populations are small and spread out, there was no external business case for service providers to build the infrastructure, there was no technical infrastructure for miles, and the terrain is also difficult for access and transport.”
But rising to the challenge, backed by local knowledge and with technical expertise, the IM team have successfully installed nine strategically located 4G mobile signal antennas since February this year. This is expected to extend internet reach to approximately 4,500 people in the 10 towns.
Anglo American contributed by helping with the capital expenditures (capex), paying for the infrastructure investments required. We worked in collaboration with a specialised, not-for-profit company, Internet Para Todos (IPT), which translates to mean “Internet for everyone”, who is responsible for the operating expenses (opex). IPT has a good reputation in Peru, as well as with links to the world bank, and oversees the opex such as providing the internet service, maintaining the antennas and resolving technical issues, if any. This approach helps this project to be economically viable as Anglo American only provides the initial capex investment, while IPT supports the opex while being close to the ground.
The first antennas were installed in the farming community of Somoa, benefiting that town and Carumas and Cambrune. Before the antennas were installed, community members had to walk some 15-20 minutes to another area to gain access to the internet. Now with the antennas installed, it takes much less effort for them to be connected.
The next eight antennas are planned to cover access for communities in Coscore, Tala, Tumilaca, Calientes, Pocata, Chivaya, Aruntaya and Titire, providing mobile phone and high-speed internet access, so that residents can choose a contract, and get better connected. For the approximately 4,500 people our work is already expected to benefit, we are also looking at further expanding this for synergies with other social developments such as telemedicine, virtual education, financial inclusion, and the strengthening of community business networks.
We hope that by incorporating technologies that connect them to the Internet, and to the rest of the world, we help re-imagine and improve people’s lives around Quellaveco.