[SatNews] VT iDirect, Inc. (iDirect), a company of Vision Technologies Systems, Inc. (VT Systems), announces that Via Direta Telecom, a subsidiary of TV and radio broadcast group Rede Tiradentes de Telecomunicações, has selected the iDirect Evolution® platform to enable the largest, most ambitious distance-learning program ever created in Brazil.
Limited broadband coverage in Brazil has left roughly 97 million people without access to the Internet.1 Actively exploring a solution, the Amazon State’s Secretary of Education has commissioned Rede Tiradentes to create a distance-learning program that spans Brazil. The program will use satellite to connect roughly 45,000 students situated across hundreds of municipalities along the rivers of the Amazon basin with teachers located in Manaus, the capital city of the state of Amazonas. Via Direta will operate the hub on behalf of Rede Tiradentes.
Using iDirect’s Evolution platform and X1 remotes, Via Direta is able to offer Internet access, long-distance learning programs and virtual tools that provide interactivity between isolated communities. Key to the project was iDirect’s Remote Commissioning Solution, Satmotion Pocket, to support the aggressive installation schedule. Upon completion, the network will consist of 1,300 VSAT stations.
Executive Comments
"Implementing a complex network in such a challenging environment as the middle of the Amazon Forest presents unique engineering issues, such as atmospheric attenuation. The use of iDirect’s Remote Commissioning Solution help us overcome such challenges in order to streamline installation, while the capabilities of the iDirect Evolution platform will help us continually improve the efficiency of the network going forward,” said Adriano Chagas, Director of Engineering, Via Direta Telecom.
“Government data shows that only about one-third of all children in Brazil make it to the sixth grade. This distance-learning program will be a powerful step forward in changing these dynamics, and we thank Via Direta for making us part of this program. Beyond education, access to high-speed broadband will also introduce a world of new social and economic capabilities to the residents of Brazil that will change the quality of life for generations to come,” said Rob Kilroy, Regional Vice President of Sales, iDirect.
1McKinsey & Company. (2014). Offline and falling behind: Barriers to Internet adoption. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/insights/high_tech_telecoms_internet/offline_and_falling_behind_barriers_to_internet_adoption
