The establishment of the mixed company Venezolana de Fibra C.A. (Venefibra), sanctioned by Nicolás Maduro’s regime, transcends beyond an industrial project aimed at producing optical fiber cables. It marks a new phase in the strategic alliance between Caracas and Tehran, now extending into an extremely sensitive sector: telecommunications and data infrastructure.
By Presidential Decree No. 5.178, published in the Official Gazette No. 43.250 on November 6, 2025, the constitution of Venefibra was formalized, which has its own legal personality and asset, and is attached to the Ministry of Electric Energy.
The company will be owned 51% by the Venezuelan EDC Network Comunicaciones S.C.S. and 49% by the Iranian company Centro Datos Novin MDC, C.A., a local subsidiary of the Iranian tech firm Modern Data Centers Development Company (MDC).
What is Venefibra
According to the decree and official notes, Venefibra will aim to develop, design, construct, distribute, and market optical fiber cables and their accessories, as well as future products related to telecommunications networks. The company will have authority to assemble, produce, operate, and manufacture necessary equipment, components, and elements, along with providing advice on projects and services related to optical fiber and other communication technologies.
This project aligns with the official telecommunications plan of the Venezuelan government, which aims to:
- Deploy 36,000 km of optical fiber cable in the transport network, of which 3,000 km will be installed in 2025 and the remainder in the following six years.
- Install 160,000 km of FTTH/GPON networks (fiber to the home) to enhance connectivity.
On paper, Venefibra aspires to replace imports, ensure the internal supply of fiber, and in the medium term, export to other countries in the region, taking advantage of La Guaira’s geographic location and the special economic zone framework.
The La Guaira–Tehran Route
The story of Venefibra doesn’t start with the Official Gazette, but rather at least a year earlier, when Caracas and Tehran first publicly announced the project.
In November 2024, officials from Venezuela and Iran signed an agreement to set up the country’s first fiber optic factory in La Guaira state, just a few kilometers from Caracas, during the telecommunications fair FITELVEN.
In September 2024, both countries signed letters of intent regarding telecommunications to strengthen commercial and technological cooperation in the sector.
In July 2025, the governor of La Guaira, José Alejandro Terán, announced the arrival of materials from Iran for the plant’s installation and confirmed that the company would be named Venefibra, as part of an alliance among the La Guaira government, the state-owned Cantv, and the Iranian company MDC.
Subsequent reports highlighted that the plant, located in the Special Economic Zone (ZEE) of La Guaira—in industrial facilities near Catia La Mar and the port—is envisioned as a project to meet local demand and become an export platform for fiber optic technology to Latin America.
In August 2025, international media estimated an initial investment close to 10 million dollars and emphasized that the plant aims to replace imports of Iranian equipment that until now arrived commercially, transitioning to local production within Venezuela.
EDC Network, Corpoelec and MDC
One of the most critical points of the decree is the power structure behind EDC Network Comunicaciones:
EDC Network is a company that manages and commercializes the fiber optic network and the “general telecommunications pathways” of Corpoelec, the state-owned electric company of Venezuela.
Among the authorities at EDC Network are the Minister of Electric Energy, Jorge Márquez, and José Luis Betancourt, president of Corpoelec, positioning the control of the mixed company within the direct circle of the ministry and the state electric corporation.
On the Iranian side, Centro Datos Novin MDC, C.A. is the subsidiary of the company Modern Data Centers Development Company (MDC), which claims to have “over a quarter of a century of experience” in design, sales, installation, and support of data center infrastructure, information networks, telecommunications, and IT solutions.
The combination is revealing: the strategic fiber network of Corpoelec—already transporting data nationwide—merged with an Iranian company specialized in data centers and digital solutions, located in a special economic zone in a key coastal state.
Telecommunications, Data, and Geopolitics: the New Front of the Tehran-Caracas Alliance
The cooperation in optical fiber is not an isolated event. Since the signing of a 20-year cooperation agreement between Iran and Venezuela in 2022, the bilateral relationship has expanded into sectors like oil, refining, fuel, technology, agriculture, health, education, and defense.
Key recent milestones include:
- Oil and Refining Alliances: Iran has supplied Venezuela with fuel, parts, and technical assistance to reactivate refineries like El Palito amidst U.S. sanctions.
- Military and Drone Cooperation: security analyses have documented the presence of an Iranian drone development center at El Libertador airbase, linked to models like the Shahed-131, locally renamed ZAMORA V-1.
- Intelligence and Security: specialized organizations recall that Iran-Venezuela intelligence cooperation has been organized at the highest level since at least 2012, with meetings between high-ranking officials of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Venezuelan military and security authorities to develop joint programs.
Iran’s entry into the core of the Venezuelan telecommunications infrastructure—through optical fiber, data centers, and potentially digital services—fits into this context: two nations under sanctions seeking to weave alternative networks to navigate the financial and technological blockade imposed by the U.S. and its allies.
Special Economic Zone of La Guaira: A Laboratory of Hard and Soft Power
The ZEE of La Guaira has become one of the laboratories for Maduro’s economic model: a space with fiscal and regulatory incentives, close to the country’s main international airport and maritime port.
Specialized reports indicate that this ZEE hosts projects from Iran (optical fiber with MDC), Turkey (food processing), and tourism developments, combining foreign investment from allied countries with opacity over contractual terms and oversight guarantees.
The installation of a fiber optic factory in this zone means:
- Iran’s access to strategic communication nodes takes place from an enclave with special rules and less public oversight.
- The project can quickly pivot towards the export of equipment, using La Guaira as a logistics platform to the Caribbean and Latin America.
Risks, Opacity, and the Sanctions Factor
Internally, the investment in Venefibra presents as a move towards “technological sovereignty” and enhanced connectivity. However, it raises multiple questions:
- Corporate and Contractual Opacity: Neither the decree nor official communications detail investment amounts, timelines, quality control mechanisms, or access schemes for third-party operators.
- Concentration of Power: The fact that Venefibra is attached to the Ministry of Electric Energy and that its Venezuelan partner is controlled by Corpoelec’s leadership reinforces the centralization of control over critical infrastructures within a single political-military group.
- Dual-Use Risk: Think tank analyses of Iran-Venezuela cooperation have long warned of the potential transfer of surveillance technologies, facial recognition, network monitoring, and cyber defense/offense, under the guise of security and telecommunications agreements.
Externally, the project fits into an environment where:
- Both Venezuela and Iran are subjected to extensive U.S. and European sanction regimes.
- Washington has recently intensified pressure on those facilitating business with the Venezuelan state apparatus, while measures against entities linked to the Iranian military and tech complex proliferate.
The involvement of MDC in critical telecommunications infrastructure in the Caribbean could potentially put Venefibra—or its partners—on the radar of secondary sanctions, especially if it confirms the export of services or equipment to third-party countries allied with Caracas and Tehran.
Digital Sovereignty or Geopolitical Dependence?
The Maduro regime markets the project as Venezuela’s entrance into the club of fiber optic producing countries, promising lower costs, improved domestic internet, and a dynamized local tech industry.
However, in light of the context, Venefibra can also be interpreted as:
- An additional link in the network of tech alliances Venezuela is forming with players like Iran, China, and Russia, in open opposition to the Western system of standards, suppliers, and regulators.
- A potential channel for the installation of data monitoring infrastructure under standards and hardware originating from a nation whose surveillance technology has been noted for its use domestically for social control.
- A trial of deep integration between electrical, data, and security networks, concentrated in the hands of the same power bloc.
While authorities celebrate the arrival of coils and Iranian equipment to La Guaira’s warehouses, the lingering question is who will truly control the “threads” of this new network: whether it will serve as a tool to better connect citizens or as a new instrument in the power and surveillance architecture of an increasingly alliance-reliant regime with extra-hemispheric powers.
What is evident is that with Venefibra, the Caracas-Tehran alliance transitions from being limited to oil, fuel, or drones, and enters the most sensitive territory of the 21st century: data, digital infrastructure, and control of information.