Projeto Amazônia Conectada (PAC 02)

Overview

Projeto Amazônia Conectada (PAC 02) is a domestic submarine cable system operating entirely within Brazil. Spanning 1,001 kilometres, it serves an intra-national corridor along the upper Rio Negro basin in the Amazon region, connecting five inland river communities that would otherwise have limited access to modern telecommunications infrastructure. The cable is owned and operated by the Government of Brazil.

Route and Landings

All five landing points are located within Brazil. The cable reaches the communities of Barcelos, Moura, Novo Airão, Santa Isabel do Rio Negro, and São Gabriel da Cachoeira. These settlements are distributed along the Rio Negro river system in the northwestern Amazon, and the cable provides connectivity across this remote inland waterway corridor.

Ownership and Operators

PAC 02 is owned entirely by the Government of Brazil. As a state-owned infrastructure project, it reflects a public initiative to extend telecommunications reach into the Amazon interior, where commercial cable deployments have not historically been present.

Status and Timeline

PAC 02 became ready for service in 2021 and has been operational for approximately five years. It is currently in service.

Regional Context

Brazil is one of the most active submarine cable markets in South America, with 16 cables landing across 31 landing points. PAC 02 is considerably shorter than most cables touching Brazil — at 1,001 km, it is longer than only 19% of the other cables in this corridor. Regional peers such as Project Waterworth, South America-1 (SAm-1), GlobeNet, the South American Crossing (SAC), AMX-1, and BRUSA all operate at intercontinental or continental scales, ranging from roughly 11,000 km to 50,000 km in length. PAC 02 occupies a distinct niche among them: rather than linking Brazil to international endpoints, it functions as a domestic river-following system serving communities deep within the Amazon basin.

Strategic Role

By connecting five remote Amazonian communities — Barcelos, Moura, Novo Airão, Santa Isabel do Rio Negro, and São Gabriel da Cachoeira — PAC 02 extends submarine cable connectivity into a region where geographic isolation and the absence of conventional land routes make river-based cable infrastructure a practical solution. The system demonstrates how submarine cable technology can be applied to inland waterway environments to serve underconnected populations within a single country.