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 The digital breakthrough and the advent of the Internet
From January to December, 530 additional junctors were activated in the long distance telephone network. With that, the network attained an 81% digitalization ratio. In the months of July and August ten new telephone transit exchanges were hired, totaling 258 thousand new digital junctors, raising the digitalization ratio to 96% in 1997. These exchanges were designed to handle the entire traffic contemplated in the Telebrás System Plan of Action (Paste), in addition to the traffic resulting from the privatization of cellular telephone B band.
The digital communication service using Frame Relay technology was inaugurated in June 1996. It operates with speed ranges that may come to 2 Mbps and is cheaper than the existing data communication dedicated services.
Also in the data communication field, a new center of the Digital Multi-Network started to be implemented that year, as well as a new earth station for Datasat Bi service of Brasilsat satellite data communication.
Fiber optics systems and agreements with academic institutions
During the year of 1996, Embratel implemented 2,5 Gbps in the Belo Horizonte-Brasília route (highway) and Florianópolis-Porto Alegre (OPGW) in the fiber optics systems, and expanded by 2,5 Gbps the São Paulo-Curitiba-Florianópolis routes and the Rio de Janeiro-São Paulo- Belo Horizonte optical ring. This was also the year of celebrating academic partnerships including three major universities: PUC-Rio, UFRJ and Unicamp (SP), with the purpose of making experiences in the broadband transmission using ATM technology, in order to gain knowledge and train Embratel's employees.
The Renpac capacity is increased and digital radio is expanded
The capacity of the Rio de Janeiro Renpac Center was also increased during 1996 by approximately 22%, going from 2.885 to 3.513 access ports. It should be pointed out that during that period the expansion of the digital radio system between Rio and Vitória (ES) doubled its capacity. The number of junctors of the digital long distance telephone exchange located in Rio de Janeiro mounted from 18,000 to 33,000.
Digidial goes abroad
In October 1996, Embratel and Argentine-based Telintar signed an agreement for the launch of Digidial service, designed for digital signal transmission at international level using 64 kbps circuits. Also in October, the two companies entered into a commercial agreement for the provision of satellite services with VSat technology through Brasilsat (Brazil), Nahuel (Argentina) and Intelsat international consortium satellites.
Covering the Mercosur region, Embratel takes part in Sintonia project, a multilateral agreement joining Argentina-based Telintar, Uruguay-based Antel and Chile-based CTC-Mundo, designed to serve customers operating in the region and requiring an integrated, homogeneous service provided in all such countries. The 1996 agreement started to expand to the whole South America due to the interest of companies like Entel (Bolivia), Antelco (Paraguay), Entel (Chile) e Telefonica Del Peru.
From analog to fiber optics submarine cables
In August and December 1996, analog submarine cables Bracan and Brus were deactivated respectively. They interconnected Brazil to Spain and to the United States. The entire traffic that had been previously routed over these two cables was shifted to the new international fiber optics submarine cables owned by the international consortiums of which Embratel is a member.
On December 16, 1996 the fiber optics cable interconnecting Florianópolis and Fortaleza became operational, serving the main cities located near the coast over 3,200 miles. In 1997, the system reached Porto Alegre. The Belo Horizonte-Brasília-Goiânia sections were activated as well covering 5,300 miles, concluding the initial phase of the domestic fiber optics project, whose Rio de Janeiro-São Paulo-Belo Horizonte optical ring is already operational.
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