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Google, Cuba deal could bring faster internet to the island
Today, Google signed a memorandum with Cuba's telecom monopoly ETECSA to create a cost-free connection between the two networks. Doing so will boost Cuba's internet speeds, but this peering agreement comes with a catch. Cuba will first need to install a new undersea fiber-optic cable to physically connect its network with a Google "point of presence." And that could take years.
Cuba is rolling out mobile internet nationwide
The Cuban government has launched a program that will see mobile internet rolled out nationwide by the end of the year. Communist-run Cuba is one of the least connected countries in the Western Hemisphere due to a lack of resources, the US trade embargo and the government's low-tolerance approach to public dissidence, but new President Miguel Diaz-Canel says greater internet access will help to boost the economy and help Cubans "defend their revolution."
Google becomes first foreign internet company to go live in Cuba
After former President Obama reopened America's diplomatic relations with Cuba, businesses started looking for opportunities to make inroads to the island nation. Google was one of these, with Obama himself announcing it would come to help set up WiFi and broadband access there. Cuba's national telecom ETECSA officially inked a deal with Google back in December, and today, they finally switched on the service, making the search giant the first foreign internet live on the island.
Cuba tries offering home internet access
It's all well and good that Google is offering faster access to its services in Cuba, but there's a glaring problem: most Cubans have to go out of their way to use them. Home internet access isn't an option, so most residents have to either crowd around public WiFi hotspots or sit down at an internet terminal. Things are looking up, though: Cuba's state-owned telecom ETECSA is launching a trial for home internet access. About 2,000 homes in Havana will go online for at least two months, with promises that the test will expand if it goes well during the initial period.
Cuba approves its first free public WiFi
Public internet access in Cuba usually comes at a steep price -- a local may have to use a week's wages just to spend an hour emailing their family overseas. However, they now have a much, much more reasonable option. The country's state-run telecom, ETECSA, recently approved the country's first free public WiFi. Cubans who can reach a cultural center in Havana can now use the shared DSL line of a well-known artist (Kcho) as much as they want. The 2Mbps connection is pokey by most standards, but the no-cost approach means that locals don't have to give up what spending power they have just to get online.
Cuba rolls out public WiFi internet access, at a steep cost
It's not too hard for Cubans to get WiFi connections if they swing by hotels and offices with less-than-secure hotspots, but they're technically breaking the law -- unless you're in a privileged job, you're supposed to plug in or use a terminal. However, the country is loosening its grip on the airwaves. The island's state-owned telecom, ETECSA, is launching its own public WiFi internet access in Santiago de Cuba (the nation's second-largest city) this month. People who visit the lone facility can browse the web from their own wireless devices rather than settling for the desktops at their usual internet center.
Over 100 internet centers open in Cuba, prove time really is money
When you're reading angry tweets about dropping to 3G in an LTE dead zone, it's easy to forget that for some people, getting online isn't even an option. In Cuba, internet access is extremely limited and out of financial reach for most, but news early this year of an undersea cable to Venezuela suggested the country might, with time, become better connected. As it turns out, that link has already made something of an impact, as the Associated Press is reporting that 118 government-run centers where one can swap cash for web time have just opened. That doesn't mean all Cubans will be able to while away hours on YouTube from now on, though, as the cost of full access at one of these centers is $4.50 per hour, or in other words, roughly a quarter of the average monthly wage (AP pegs a typical salary at around $20 per month). We guess really expensive internet is better than none, and if Cuba's vice minister of communications Wilfredo Gonzalez is to be believed, mobile internet is said to be arriving in "a relatively near future." [Image credit: Franklin Reyes, Associated Press]
Cuban cellphone freedom nets 7,400 users in ten days
Within the first ten days of the new, open cellular policy in Cuba, 7,400 cellphone accounts have been opened by regular Cuban citizens. The 7,400 contracts were opened for about $110 via Cuba's only (and state-owned) wireless provider, ETECSA. Handsets cost around $75 -- no cheap proposition when you consider that the average Cuban citizen's annual state salary is around $240. Previously, contracts could only be opened by government officials or foreigners. 7,400 is a tiny slice of Cuba's 11.4-million person population (.0006%), but it's a start.[Via textually.org]
Cuba lifts restrictions on cellphone use
It's only just ended its ban on DVD player and computer sales, but Cuba's apparently not stopping it's technological catch-up there, with President Raul Castro now announcing that the country's also lifting its restrictions on cellphone use. As the AFP reports, there have of course been cellphones in the country for some time, but they have mainly been reserved for foreigners, government staff, or those who were able to obtain them through third parties. Under the new regulations, however, Cubans will be able to get cellphone service from state telecom ETECSA, but only in the form of prepaid contracts that must be paid for in foreign currency. Reuters also adds that Cubans will be able to both make and receive international calls under the new service. Any other details are apparently pretty light at the moment, but ETECSA says it'll be providing information on how Cubans can switch over their existing service or sign up for a new contract in the next few days.[Via Yahoo/AFP]
