GigNet is Accelerating the Creation of Smart Homes and Smart Communities through Long-Term Agreements with Major Developers, As Well As a Special Program to Extend Broadband Access to Underserved Communities Including Employees of Hospitality Venues and Other Enterprises in the Cancun Region

GigNet, a Digital Infrastructure company with an extensive regional fiber-optic broadband network from Costa Mujeres, North of Cancun, through the Hotel Zone of Tulum, announced today it is making an important commitment to extend advanced, reliable broadband access to underserved residential communities in the Cancun region, many of which are being developed to provide housing for the hundreds of thousands of employees of hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail stores, attractions, transportation companies, and other support services that serve the region’s twenty million annual tourist arrivals.

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Photo Source GigNet: GigNet Fiber-to-the-Home Billboard, Tulum, Mexico; Translation: “Connecting Your Home With The Speed You Need”

This commitment is a component of GigNet’s overall Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) business segment which includes advanced Internet and Wi-Fi that enables Smart Homes and Smart Communities under development throughout Quintana Roo. GigNet expects that during 2023 it will have upwards of 225,000 homes passed covered by long-term agreements and other contractual arrangements with planned developments, gated communities, luxury condominiums, and other residential developments.

Paul Moore, Chairman and CEO, stated, “The Cancun Region is known world-wide as a premier travel destination. What is less known outside of Mexico is that the region is one of the fastest growing residential markets in the Americas. The number and scale of new housing developments, ranging from entry level to luxury, is staggering. We are fortunate to be in the right place at the right time to serve this exponential growth due to the investments we have already made in the region to create the most advanced fiber backbone network from Cancun to Tulum. We are the only provider positioned to quickly and efficiently install Fiber-to-the-Home services in as little as one day, unlocking the true potential of the region as a place to live and work as well as to visit.”

GigNet completed an extensive, fully-redundant fiber-optic network build in early 2019 between Cancun and Tulum, including a network operations center, and multiple points of presence (POPs) throughout the Riviera Maya region to facilitate rapid deployment to client locations and to provide 24x7 network monitoring. Over the past few years additional fiber-optic network extensions have been completed by GigNet to extend the network north of Cancun and through the Hotel Zone of Tulum, with additional metro fiber loops in Cancun and Playa Del Carmen. GigNet has also extended fiber connections from its core backbone network to key concentrations of oceanfront resorts all along the over 100+ kilometer Riviera Maya coastline.

Mr. Moore added, “Having developed international telecommunications projects and fiber-optic networks since the first wave of deregulation in the 1990s, I have never seen a market so underserved by legacy providers, and I have never seen a growth opportunity for home and business Internet like the Cancun region. Across the board, this region was 20 years or more behind in technology and Internet access compared to other major travel destinations. Along with the hundreds of hotel operators, business owners, and real estate developers in the region that have trusted in GigNet to date, we are at the center of the digital transformation of the region. Every new business and home we connect has a network effect that will increase prosperity for Southeast Mexico well into the future.”

In addition to consistent growth in hotels and resorts, now estimated at well over 125,000 rooms and growing each year, and the estimated 50,000 or more active units on vacation platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo, residential development in the Cancun region has accelerated during and following the Covid pandemic. In fact, it was the Covid pandemic and the need for high-speed Internet at home for work, learning, and connectivity to friends and family that created the major residential opportunity for GigNet. Due to the advanced architecture and technology of its extensive fiber-optic network, GigNet was able to quickly respond to the needs of the community for advanced residential Internet. The rise of “digital nomads” during the pandemic also fueled the need for advanced Internet in the region.

It is estimated that over 200,000 residential units are being built or are in the planning stage to be built in Quintana Roo, many of which are in ‘planned developments’ that typically include a mix of single-family homes, multi-tenant buildings, shops, services, recreational facilities, and even schools. Thousands of Airbnb and similar vacation rentals are being added in this wave of residential development. GigNet is working with many of the region’s most influential developers of these planned developments, with agreements completed or in final review totaling over 150,000 homes passed in various stages of construction.

Mark Carney, OBE and President of GigNet Mexico, said, “We appreciate the trust that major real estate developers are placing in GigNet to be their long-term technology and services partner for Fiber-to-the-Home. These are sophisticated, forward-looking developers and together we have created technology plans for their current and future residents for the next 20 to 25 years. Smart homes and Internet of Things (IoT) are just at the beginning of changing how we live and work. We are providing these planned developments a way to “future-proof” their communities to take advantage of all new technologies for streaming, gaming, connecting, shopping, working, learning, and whatever the future holds.”

Key Commercial and Social Benefits of GigNet Fiber-to-the-Home

• GigNet’s FTTH service offering is robust enough to serve the most demanding “power users” of home Internet and WiFi, with many clients selecting service levels guaranteeing up to 1 Gbps (one gigabyte per second). GigNet’s most popular offerings allow customers to connect up to 10 devices and enjoy uninterrupted connectivity at speeds of 200 Mbps to 500 Mbps.

• Only GigNet’s proprietary fiber network can provide users such dedicated service levels, as well as responsive technology and client support services never before offered in the Cancun region. For information on accessing GigNet Mexico’s residential services see https://gignet.mx/residential/.

• GigNet is also committed to extending broadband access to underserved communities in the market areas where it operates, now and in the future. One important aspect of the residential growth in the region is the development of communities with affordable housing targeted at employees in the hospitality and service industries. GigNet has created a special, affordable “GigNet Basics” service package for these communities, as an entry-level Internet plan which can be upgraded easily to the Company’s popular tiers.

• GigNet’s FTTH service increases economic development in the region by enabling greater opportunities for remote work, online learning, and making possible a new generation of technology-savvy workers and entrepreneurs that now can live and work in one of the best climates in the world for a healthy, active outdoor lifestyle.

• GigNet also utilizes its best-in-class fiber-optic network to extend Internet access for schools, medical facilities, non-profits, first responders, and other organizations that promote important environmental, social, and governance goals for the region. The GigNet network also facilitates important new technologies such as cyber-security, biometrics, connected devices, and advances in hospitality technology, medical imaging and remote diagnostics, remote learning, logistics, and financial services.

• GigNet’s fiber-optic network has a positive impact on small business, indigenous communities, working class families, and other under-served segments, and can benefit major civil transportation infrastructure projects such as railways, airports, and seaports that are vital to the region’s growth and prosperity.

Mr. Carney explained, “As the region’s tourism industry grows, as evidenced by new records in 2022 for airline passengers at the Cancun International Airport and the addition of new hotel rooms, more and more jobs are being added each year in hospitality and services. Historically, many of these workers have lived an hour or more each way from their homes to their jobs. Fortunately, we are seeing more developments with homes priced for this segment of the population. We believe, like the national government of Mexico and the State Government of Quintana Roo, that Internet access should be available to all. Our GigNet Basics is our way to help provide connectivity to families of the incredible service industry people that truly make our world class tourism destination what it is.”

Marco Erosa, President of CANIETI Quintana Roo (National Chamber of Electronic and Telecommunications), commented, “It is vital for residential areas of all levels to have better opportunities for telecommunications such as high-speed broadband access for Internet. This generates better opportunities, especially in these times when home office practices continue growing every day. More and more, it is not only offices that require connectivity, homes need to be included as well to meet priorities for work, education, and quality of life – at all income levels. GigNet's strategy is the correct one. Entering the residential market, expanding its footprint, and granting opportunities to the state’s citizens while providing distinctive service.”

Taken together, GigNet’s commercial operations and its commitment to overall economic development in the region and the communities it serves are the foundations of GigNet’s “Silicon Maya” vision and initiative that it has founded as the leader in the digital transformation of the region. For a video overview of GigNet’s Silicon Maya initiative promoting environmental, social, and governance (ESG) goals in the region, see https://vimeo.com/gignet/siliconmaya.

Mr. Moore concluded, “Through the hard work of our team, and the support of our investors and financial partners including Credit Suisse Asset Management Mexico, in a short period of time we have successfully established a leading brand and service delivery platform unlike any that has existed in Mexico before GigNet. We are continually installing new enterprise clients and residential customers who have selected GigNet based on our superior technology and our proven commitment to client satisfaction. GigNet is looking forward to expanding our Fiber-to-the-Home segment above and beyond 225,000 homes passed this year while also expanding our market leadership in the hospitality and enterprise segments in the Cancun region and, in time, other markets in Quintana Roo, Yucatan, and elsewhere in Mexico where our current clients are asking us to provide our world class technology and services.”

ABOUT GIGNET

GigNet is the Mexican Caribbean brand of GigNet, Inc., a U.S. based international Digital Infrastructure company specializing in Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) and Fiber-to-the-Premises (FTTP) for enterprise customers including hotels, resorts, retailers, offices, large commercial operations, governmental offices, and medical and educational facilities, as well as fiber-optic transport services for mobile phone operators in the region. Through its Mexico operating subsidiaries, GigNet, S.A. de C.V., and Sanalto Redes Peninsular, S.A.P.I. de C.V., the Company is a fully licensed telecommunications provider in Mexico. GigNet is actively adding customers to its extensive regional broadband network in the Mexican Caribbean, one of the largest and fastest growing tourism and new residential development destinations in the world, with over 30 million airport passengers in 2022. GigNet is a leader in the Digital Transformation of the region.

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