Lite Access Technologies Inc.'s (CVE:LTE) shares jumped 6.5% on Tuesday after the company said its new South American partner, TEASA and Tilsit (T/T), has been selected for a fibre connectivity project in Panama.
Lite Access has provided equipment and trained and certified T/T on all aspects of its fibre deployment solutions, including microtrenching, air-blown fibre and approved reinstatement methodologies.
T/T is a synergistic partnership between Paraguay-based TEASA and Uruguay-based Tilsit. T/T works on many deployment projects for large communications carriers interested in achieving additional fibre connectivity throughout Central and South America.
The Panama project is a 22-kilometre microtrench installation to be completed for a large multinational telecommunications and Internet service provider. It involves cutting a 30-centimetre trench in asphalt along an older road, which connects the original Panama Canal to an old United States gun battery, which is now being used to house Panama's main Internet connection. Project construction started last month, and is proceeding at a good pace with completion expected by the end of March.
T/T is currently bidding on two additional large microtrench installation projects. T/T is also working on co-ordinating a complete reservicing of the telecom infrastructure in Panama City. This job would involve providing fibre optic services to five national carriers and moving their services from overhead to underground installations. The grid to be serviced here is approximately four kilometres by six kilometres in size, with a projected budget of up to $55mln.
"T/T saw the potential for microtrenching in Central and South America on a very large scale and approached us given Lite Access' track record of success in the industry and expertise in microtrenching. By training and supplying T/T with our proven and proprietary technologies, we are helping them to become Lite Access South America in the microtrenching industry. One of our core missions is to empower and continue supporting our valued partners with the ability to successfully bid and complete microtrenching projects," said Mike Plotnikoff, chief executive officer of Lite Access.
Lite Access shares were up 6.5% at C$2.45 on Tuesday.