“Significant risks have materialized in the project that have affected its progress; Consequently, the expected benefits have not been achieved, such as improving the quality of telecommunications services with greater coverage and capacity; enabling the creation and access to technologies and applications that the population will be able to take advantage of and contribute to closing the digital gap and facilitating the adoption of technologies in urban and rural areas”, revealed the Audit.
The ASF reported that Altán carried out an analysis with recommendations to improve the Red Compartida project, but Promtel did not carry out actions that would improve the performance of the connectivity plan or, where appropriate, avoid risks or breaches of its obligations.
Altán started the Red Compartida project in 2018 with the aim of bringing connectivity services to areas with less than 5,000 inhabitants to close the digital divide. The initial expectation was that the project would take six years to get off the ground, and once this happened, some twenty telecommunications companies could bring services to the most remote regions and communities of the country.
But this has not happened. Altán Redes had to request an extension from the Federal Institute of Telecommunications to modify its coverage goal of 92.2% until January 24, 2028, instead of 2024 as initially planned due to financial problems that forced it to enter bankruptcy and from which in November of last year it managed to get out by restructuring its financial debt with its 120 creditors such as Huawei, Megacable, Banobras, Bancomext.
The Superior Audit of the Federation recommended that Promtel and Altán strengthen their communication in order to have more options to promote the Red Compartida project.