No Community Out of Reach
Bringing Digital Inclusion to Northern Brazil
Industry
Fixed Data
Location
Latin America
Northern Brazil covers almost half the country’s territory — nearly four million square kilometers of rivers, forests, and remote towns. For the millions of people who live here, distance has too often meant disconnection. Schools struggled to provide modern learning without reliable internet. Health posts could not share information or deliver telemedicine. Families were cut off from government services and opportunities others take for granted.
To close this gap, Brazil’s Ministry of Communications created the GESAC program, bringing connectivity to rural and border regions where fiber networks are too costly or complex to build. Telebras, the state-owned telecom company, has led the effort for more than a decade. But the next phase required higher speeds, greater capacity, and the ability to scale to thousands of communities. That’s when Telebras turned to SES.
The Challenge
The task wasn’t just to connect remote sites — it was to make digital tools part of daily life in schools, clinics, and community centers. To succeed, the solution had to expand bandwidth far beyond the 1 Mbps once available, deliver reliable service for education and healthcare, scale to thousands of locations across the North, and be deployed quickly with strong support.
Fiber could not meet these needs. Building terrestrial networks would take years and remain vulnerable to outages. Satellite was the only option — and it had to be powerful, flexible, and proven.
The SES Solution
SES delivered with SES-17, our high-throughput Ka-band satellite for the Americas. In partnership with Gilat, we expanded GESAC to provide fast, resilient connectivity where fiber can’t reach.
VSAT installations now serve schools, health units, Indigenous villages, and government sites. Each location receives the bandwidth it needs, from 20 Mbps to 60 Mbps, with Wi-Fi extending access to surrounding communities. Reliability is ensured by global network operations in Luxembourg working with hubs in Brazil, while trained local teams handle installation and maintenance.
This is connectivity built with purpose: quick to deploy, scalable to demand, and strong enough for daily life in the most remote areas.
Impact on the Ground
The partnership has already changed lives. Schools once cut off now access national education platforms directly from the classroom. Clinics serving hundreds of families conduct teleconsultations and share patient data securely. Once-isolated Indigenous villages are now connected to broader networks for learning, cultural exchange, and staying in touch with loved ones.
Looking Ahead
GESAC is more than a connectivity program — it is a blueprint for digital inclusion. With SES-17 in place and thousands of sites online, Telebras and SES have built a foundation that can grow with demand and adapt to new applications. As needs expand, SES’s high-throughput and future multi-orbit services will extend reach even further.
“When we say the project with SES and Telebras changes lives, this is what we mean — health, education, government services, staying connected with loved ones. We are proud to bring these opportunities to remote regions of Brazil.”
Marcos Coseglio, Director of Sales, Government Projects, Latin America at SES.
Related Content
 | Contact Us |
 | More about Digital Inclusion |
 | More about SES-17 |
