Colombia cancels Amazon fibre project over cost and risk concerns

Details: Manny Pham; Category: Regulation; 19 August 2026; 1312 views

Colombia's Ministry of ICT (MinTIC) has cancelled a tender for a major fibre optic project in the Amazon rainforest, citing financial uncertainty and potential technical, environmental and coverage risks.

The FTIC-LP-001-2026 tender covered deployment of the fibre optic cable in the region of Putumayo - including project design and supervision, and had an estimated value of COP1.14 trillion (US$367 million).

MinTIC said the project was originally budgeted at COP683 billion under the government's CONPES 4167 policy of 2025, which was announced to close the digital divide for around 227,000 people across 9 municipalities. Its estimated cost was subsequently increased by 67.1% in 2026 under CONPES 4195, with authorisation for the additional future budgets issued on August 4.

New ICT Minister Alexandra Falla ordered the cancellation after establishing a specialist team to review the tender on both administrative and legal grounds.

The ministry said the review identified financial uncertainties and preliminary estimates that could create "serious technical, environmental and effective coverage risks", which Falla considered when making the decision.

The cancellation comes as the ministry is also dealing with connectivity disruptions following an earthquake last week, with Falla having ordered work to restore services in affected regions.

MinTIC said the decision was taken in line with the principles established by President Abelardo de la Espriella, although it did not provide further details on whether the Putumayo project would be redesigned or retendered.