Autazes, Brazil

Autazes, Brazil: Submarine Cable Landing Point

Autazes is a municipality in the state of Amazonas, Brazil, situated south-east of Manaus and just west of the Madeira River. Unlike the majority of Brazil's submarine cable landing points, which are found along the Atlantic coastline, Autazes represents an inland riverine landing point, with cable infrastructure routed through the waterways of the Amazon basin. Two submarine cables land at Autazes, both belonging to the Norte Conectado programme, a domestic Brazilian initiative designed to extend high-capacity connectivity into the country's northern interior.

Both cables landing at Autazes — Norte Conectado Infovia 01 and Norte Conectado Infovia 05 — connect exclusively to other points within Brazil, making this an entirely domestic corridor. Rather than enabling intercontinental links, Autazes serves as a node within an intra-national network aimed at bridging the connectivity gap between Amazonian communities and the broader Brazilian telecommunications infrastructure.

Cables Landing at Autazes

Norte Conectado (Infovia 01) is a domestic Brazilian submarine cable with a length of 1,100 km, with a readiness-for-service date of 2023, currently in draft status. All endpoints of this cable are located within Brazil, positioning it as an intra-national route that forms part of the wider Norte Conectado connectivity programme for the Amazon region.

Norte Conectado (Infovia 05) is a second domestic Brazilian submarine cable landing at Autazes, also in draft status. Like Infovia 01, all endpoints on this cable are located within Brazil. No length or readiness-for-service year has been confirmed for this route.

Regional Context

Within Brazil's submarine cable landscape, Autazes shares a two-cable count with Fonte Boa, another Amazonian landing point, distinguishing both from the major coastal hubs such as Fortaleza (10 cables), Rio de Janeiro (8 cables), and Santos (5 cables). Brazil hosts 22 submarine cables across 64 landing points, and Autazes ranks in the top 93 percent of the country's 74 landing points by cable count, reflecting its modest but established presence in the national submarine cable graph.

Network Role

Autazes functions as a domestic multi-cable terminus within Brazil's Norte Conectado programme, hosting two separate infiovia routes that together contribute to extending fibre-based connectivity through the Amazon basin. Its role is distinct from Brazil's internationally-facing landing points in that it does not serve as a gateway to foreign networks; instead, it connects inland Amazonian municipalities to the national telecommunications infrastructure.

The presence of two Norte Conectado cables at Autazes gives the municipality a degree of route diversity within the domestic network, supporting resilience for a region where terrestrial alternatives are limited by the Amazon's geography. Within Brazil's broader submarine cable graph, Autazes represents the extension of the network's reach into the interior, complementing the coastal concentration of international cable landings.