He Administrative Vice Minister of Education, Roberto Sevillano, On behalf of the Ministry of Education (Meduca), it went on Thursday, May 22, 2025 to the Anti -corruption prosecutor to voluntarily deliver documentation and technical elements linked to the public bidding process advanced by the institution to hire a new Internet service for all educational centers in the country.
This collaboration occurs within the framework of the criminal investigation advanced by the Public Ministry For an alleged crime against the public administration, linked to the contract currently in force for the provision of the school Internet service, whose cost structure has been questioned for its high price.
During the appearance, the Deputy Minister was accompanied by the legal team of the Ministry, who explained that the current tender represents a substantial and beneficial change for the Panamanian state.
“This new hiring marks a historical milestone in our goal of closing the digital gap in public education, allowing total high -speed Internet access, with responsible use of state resources,” said Sevillian.
The Internet contract that tenders the Meduca plans to connect all public schools in the country (more than 3,102 educational centers) for an amount of $ 44 millions, distributed over a period of five years. Under the current contract, the Ministry spends $14 million Annual for a service that covers only 2,700 schools, with speeds between 4 and 20 megabits per second (MBPS).
According to Meduca, the new process includes a 100% coverage of the country’s public educational centers, with connection speeds of up to 1,024 Mbps, far superior to the current 10 Mbps.
With respect to the annual cost, the Meduca estimates that it will be $ 8.8 million, which represents a 95% savings compared to the previous contract. In addition, a total cost of $ 44 million is projected for the next five years, compared to the more than $ 1.5 billion that would have been required to reach similar speeds under the current conditions of the current contract.
Remember that the opening of envelopes with the offers presented for this internet tender was held on April 22, with the participation of the UFINET consortium for schools (made up of UFINET Panama, SA and UFINET LATAM SLU companies), in addition to Cable & Wireless Panamá, S.A.
The first to present proposal was the UFINET consortium for schools, which offered the Internet service for an amount of $ 59,360,700.00while Cable & Wireless Panama, SA presented an offer for $ 44,771,760.00.
