Brazil has the largest eduroam network in the world
Now, Brazil is the country with the largest eduroam network in the world! There are 3,000 access points spread throughout the national territory, connecting members of the academic community from 177 Brazilian institutions that use the service with secure Wi-Fi, including universities, professional and technological education institutes, research centers and university hospitals. The service, which is also present in around 100 other countries, is managed and operated in Brazil by the National Education and Research Network (RNP).
“Since the launch of eduroam in Brazil in 2012, we have sought partnerships that would enable its expansion, both in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and in public environments that would allow access to secure Wi-Fi service for the academic community. In recent years, we have expanded its reach, and more recently, with the establishment of new partnerships, we are taking eduroam outside the institutional walls, whose seed was planted in a first initiative in the municipality of Porto Alegre, and which should soon take eduroam to other widely accessible public places. The mark reached on this date reinforces RNP's effort to expand, in a country with continental dimensions, the service coverage for the benefit of the mobility of the academic community, at a time of gradual hybrid return of the HEIs", detailed the Director of Services and Solutions at RNP, Antônio Carlos F. Nunes.
Now, the service is in the process of capillarization in public spaces in order to make wireless internet available in airports, shopping malls, sports arenas, parks, restaurants and coffee shops across the country. In this direction, in partnership with the provider Linktel, at the Salvador International Airport, in Bahia, the network has been available for access since last year. And, in the future, Wi-Fi should also be available in busy public places in the cities of Brasília and Rio de Janeiro.
Eduroam is also part of government initiatives such as the Northeast Connected project, sponsored by the Ministry of Communications (MCom), which will make Wi-Fi available in 31 squares located in cities in seven northeastern states, namely Maceió (Alagoas); Feira de Santana, Juazeiro and Paulo Afonso (Bahia); Cratéus, Iguatu, Juazeiro do Norte and Quixadá (Ceará); Campina Grande (Paraíba); Caruaru, Petrolina, Serra Talhada and Vitória de Santo Antão (Pernambuco); Parnaíba (Piauí); and Caicó and Mossoró (Rio Grande do Norte). The initiative contributes to the internalization and technological evolution of the national academic network, the Ipê network, and makes use of shared infrastructure with the São Francisco Hydroelectric Company (Chesf).
Another project made possible by the partnership with Linktel is Wi-Fi on Squares, which will build Wi-Fi access points in up to two public squares in 11 cities in the interior of the Northeast, with guaranteed broadband (100 Mb/s), for the free and open access by the population.
“The partnership with Linktel is important, not only to support our operation and maintenance of these Wi-Fi points that we have implemented in public squares, but also to spread our secure Wi-Fi service to the academic community, eduroam”, stated the director of Engineering and Operations at RNP, Eduardo Grizendi.
How to connect to an eduroam network?
The service allows its users to connect to the internet anywhere that has eduroam access points, and authentication is performed with the credentials of the user's home institution. Thus, it is enough for the institution to be a user of the service and for the Internet user to have eduroam configured on their computer, cell phone or tablet. Once connected with login and password, the wireless network connection happens automatically. In Brazil, to be a teaching and research institution that provides the service, the only requirement is to be approved by the Federated Academic Community (CAFe). Learn more about the service here.
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