RIO DE JANEIRO — Rio de Janeiro is set to host its first Olympic Games next year. From an information technology and telecommunications perspective, sponsors are responsible for implementing the infrastructure needed for the games, as well as provide connectivity at all 38 competition venues across four areas of the country (Barra, Deodoro, Maracanã and Copacabana) and around 100 local venues that will support the competition, such as the athlete and press villages. Projections suggest the games will include some 10,900 Olympic athletes, 4,350 Paralympic athletes and 25,100 members of the press.
One of the sponsors, Cisco Systems, said it has completed and delivered 54% of its projects, which are focused in the internal operation of the games rather than technologies set to be used by the public. The U.S.-based company said it has 80 employees focused on meeting its commitments tied to the games, which include the eventual deployment of 100,000 local area network ports, 7,000 wireless access points, 150 firewalls/IPS/IDS and 550 corporate servers.
Cisco is working in partnership with other companies, such as Embratel/Claro, which is the official telecommunication services provider for the games. In addition, Cisco is working with Samsung, the worldwide Olympic partner in the wireless communications equipment category; and Omega, the worldwide Olympic partner in the product or service category, including watches, clocks and official countdown clocks. A team of 5,400 IT professionals is expected to be on site during the games.
Rodrigo Cardoso Uchôa, director for new business and general coordinator for Cisco in Rio, said the matrix of assignments is quite complex, with more than 20 technology companies involved.
“It’s a collaborative work; there are 588 IT projects running,” he said during a press trip to Cisco’s Innovation Center in Rio de Janeiro. Cisco said it has completed work in the Rio 2016 headquarters; at data centers in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro; at the integration test lab; at the Olympic backbone; and at the venue model. The company is still working on completing the event’s wireless LAN, network security, network management and venue designs.
RCR Wireless News recently posted an interview with Brendan Gill, co-founder and CEO of OpenSignal, who claimed 4G services at the Olympic venues need to improve. An OpenSignal survey showed there were plenty of complaints levied against the country’s operators about the quality and consistency of their service. 
Telepresence to improve Brazil’s team
In addition to Rio 2016, Cisco provided telepresence equipment for the Brazilian Olympic Committee as part of the sponsorship program. As part of the launch, Carlos Arthur Nuzman, president of Comitê Olímpico Brasileiro, said the deployment was a landmark of technology advancement and a legacy that will remain after the competition is over.
“The improvement in the collaboration will facilitate the interaction of athletes, doctors, coaches and others,” Nuzman said.
During the past year, COB has been using Cisco’s WebEx platform for member interaction. They also have used WebEx to facilitate the communication among staff in Brazil and athletes competing at the Toronto 2015 Pan Am games.
As part of the IT program, Cisco said business intelligence systems are being used by coaches to facilitate monitoring athletes’ performances, in comparison with rivals. Marcus Vinícius Freire, COB’s director, said the system uses Azure, Power BI and machine learning. COB is also evaluating the use of Microsoft’s Band to measure the health of athletes.
Editor’s note: Travel costs to Rio de Janeiro were provided by Cisco.
More news from Latin America
América Móvil Q3 results
América Móvil said revenue grew 1.2% in the third quarter of this year compared with the same period last year, but net income dropped nearly 123%. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization decreased 8.2% year-over-year, while total costs and expenses increased 5.9%. América Móvil said foreign exchange losses have not had an impact on cash flows.
Analyst firm Macquarie Capital noted “while the company has done a good job in managing costs in Mexico to partially offset significant revenue headwinds driven by regulatory reforms, its Brazilian business, which was supposed to be the EBITDA driver for [América Móvil] has been hit by macro and [foreign exchange] issues.”
Check out results here.
5G trial in Brazil
Ericsson announced during a visit by Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff to its headquarters in Sweden, that the vendor is working with América Móvil to bring the first “5G” test system to Brazil next year. In addition, Ericsson and América Móvil also are looking to deploy a test system for the “Internet of Things” designed to enable Brazilian industries and the public sector to prepare for an ICT transformation.
Peru – Bitel, the Peru branch of Vietnam’s military-run telecom group Viettel, plans to invest an additional $250 million in a move to increase its subscriber base to 2.5 million people. Bitel has already deployed 17,000 kilometers of cable in Peru.
Peru – Telefónica was fined by government regulator OSIPTEL in response to customer complaints regarding service issues in 2013 and 2014.
Puerto Rico – Claro tapped Ericsson to boost indoor coverage at hospitals and banks using the vendor’s Radio Dot System.
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