By Reuters

Brazil will boost its Internet communications to reduce dependence on U.S. hubs and be able to host global data centers for heavy users like YouTube and Netflix, Jorge Bittar, head of state-run telecoms company Telebras, said in an interview.

At present, all submarine fiber-optic cables connect Brazil to the Internet through the United States.

That's a security risk in a “post-Snowden” world, said Telebras chief executive Bittar, referring to the 2013 revelations of former National Security Agency analyst Edward Snowden, including that the U.S. agency spied on President Dilma Rousseff and other Brazilians.

In a move late next year that will bring the Internet to remote corners of Brazil, European space-transporter Arianespace will launch a geostationary satellite for Brazil from French Guiana, with a throughput of 56 gigabits per second.

By 2017, a submarine cable with more than 30 terabit-per-second capacity will open a high-speed channel to Portugal allowing European astronomers to watch the stars through telescopes in Chile.

“The submarine cable will give us greater security and more agile communications with Europe,” Bittar said.

The 5,875-kilometer cable called EulaLink will be laid from Lisbon to Fortaleza in Northeast Brasil by a joint venture formed by Telebras and Spain's IslaLink at a cost of $185 million financed by the European Union.

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