Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Q.R. — An area known as the dead zone for wireless service could offer connectivity with completion of the Maya Train. Javier Abraham Ayuso Sánchez who heads the Quintana Roo Institute of Innovation and Technology says communication equipment, starting with electricity, is needed.
He says the area of approximately 60 kilometers of highway dead zone between Felipe Carrillo Puerto and Tulum is sparsely populated and therefore, not connected. To be connected, he says, would require an investment of at least 32 million pesos.
Without the basics of electricity, connectivity becomes a problem he said explaining that solar panels have been tested but simply do not provide the energy required. Installing towers is complicated since they are private investments.
“It depends a lot on the companies,” he said. “We are looking for communications equipment since towers are private investments. We are trying to solve this problem that has been going on for many years. We have tried to install solar panels but the energy is not enough,” he explained.
However, the electric lines built to run the Maya Train could reduce the initial investment costs to connect the dead zone. According to Ayuso Sánchez, talks are underway with federal officials about the possibility of using the Tren Maya power as an option to provide connectivity service in the dead zone.
Photo: AMLO July 29, 2024.
On Monday, the General Director of the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), Manuel Bartlett Díaz, said the agency is building 690 kilometers of electrified track along the Yucatan Peninsula for the operation of the Maya Train, equivalent to an area larger than that of the Netherlands, Denmark and Switzerland combined.
