Cuba Widens Public Internet Access – At A Cost
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The Cuban government is creating an additional 118 public Internet access points, but users must still pay $4.50 an hour to surf the web, in a country where the average monthly salary is just $20, reported the Associated Press.
The Cuban government is creating an additional 118 public Internet access points, but users must still pay $4.50 an hour to surf the web, in a country where the average monthly salary is just $20, reported the Associated Press.
On Tuesday, authorities announced that the government would make use of faster bandwidth, from new undersea fibre optic cables from Venezuela, to expand public Internet access starting from June 4, though home web access would still remain greatly restricted.
Cuba’s telecommunications company, Etecsa, will also “immediately” stop access for users if they commit “any violation of the norms of ethical behaviour promoted by the Cuban state”, said the Ministry of Communications in its government decree; while citizens must sign up with Etecsa for temporary or permanent accounts.
Until now, Internet access in Cuba has been limited to hotels, schools and some Cuban businesses and government agencies. Residential dial-up accounts are extremely rare, with even the lucky few only able to access a limited basket of state-approved websites.
Reuters reported that Havana has been restricted from undersea fiber-optic cable networks due to a US embargo in effect since 1962. Because of this, Cuban Internet access came via slower satellites.
The Venezuelan undersea fiber-optic cable, activated for experimental use in January, is the first hard-wired link from the island to international telecom networks. Previously, the government blamed the limited bandwidth for restrictions on Web access, saying it forces them to “prioritise” it for “social use” purposes.
According to official statistics, just 2.6 million Cubans, out of a population of 11.2 million, have access to the Internet. The new fee of $4.5 an hour is down from the current $6, but most locals argue that it hardly makes a difference.
“As low as they may seem, they are still high in comparison with salaries we earn,” Tania Molina, a doctor, told AFP. “So we’ll continue as before.”
[quote]”It’s a real bargain,” commented a user on state news website Cuba Si, as cited by AP. “I mean, I work for a week and then I can get online for hour – fabulous.”[/quote]Acknowledging the high fees, Cuba’s deputy communications minister Wilfredo Gonzalez however predicted that the cost would drop once the government recoups its investment.
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“At this moment, it’s not possible to immediately generalize access to the Internet,” Gonzalez told the state newspaper Granma, according to AFP.
There are plans to provide Cubans with home connections at some point, but in the meantime the government has decided to go with pubic access points “so that the smallest amount of investment can reach the largest number of people,” Gonzalez claimed.