TIM, ASTM Group partner to extend 4G coverage

TIM Brasil and Ecovias do Araguaia, concessionaire of EcoRodovias, ASTM Group’s Brazilian subsidiary, announce a partnership to install 4G coverage along 850 kilometres of highways between the Mid-North and Centre-South of the country, running from Tocantins to Goiás, on which 30,000 vehicles circulate daily.

This will be the longest stretch of highway in Brazil with uninterrupted coverage of a mobile phone signal.

The project, which has an overall impact on a catchment area of around 900 thousand people, will improve connectivity for residents of 33 municipalities, 88 public schools, 31 hospitals and numerous agribusinesses in the region.

Currently, the mobile phone signal is only active on about 20% of the highways between Aliança do Tocantins (TO) and Anápolis (GO). The project was designed by TIM Brasil to meet the requirements of the Ecovias do Araguaia concession tender, which provides for the extension of the 4G mobile network, thus enabling the use of telecommunications between road users and the concessionaire’s service. The focus is particularly on road safety, and everyone who lives, works or travels close to the highways will also benefit.

This is the first partnership in Brazil between a highway concessionaire and a telecom company. Work will begin later this year, with the project to be completed by September 2024.

TIM Brasil, equipped with Brazil’s largest mobile network, will provide 4G coverage of the country’s longest stretch of highway. The partnership with EcoRodovias ensures a robust and sustainable infrastructure across the region, which will support road safety on connected highways.

For the ASTM Group, the project is consistent with the objective of guaranteeing safe, technologically advanced, resilient and sustainable infrastructures. Connectivity in the highway system is a key element for vehicle-infrastructure communication. In the coming years, vehicles will be increasingly integrated with the functioning of the motorways, equipped with embedded systems capable of exchanging information with the motorway in real time, so as to make travel safer, easier and faster for the driver and facilitate traffic management by the concessionaire.