Cuba Will Test Home Internet Service In Old Havana

Cuba Will Test Home Internet Service In Old Havana / EFE, 14ymedio
Posted on February 1, 2016

EFE (14ymedio), Havana, 31 January 2016 – A pilot project will test
internet service in private homes in Havana, where 30 new public wifi
zones will be established, as part of the 2016 projects announced by the
State-owned Telecommunications Company of Cuba (ETECSA).

The director of the company, Odalys Rodriguez del Toro, said that test
would be carried out in two of the People's Council areas in the Old
Havana district, the oldest part of Havana, "in hopes that in the future
we can start bringing Internet to homes," according to a Cuban News
Agency (ACN) report.

These connections, a new service, will be through fiber optics, under an
agreement with the Chinese company Huawei, with rates for the service to
be announced later, according to the director.

Rodriguez del Toro also there will be an expansion of 30 new wifi areas
in Havana, two for each of its 15 municipalities, to provide access to
this service which is already available in 17 public spaces in the city;
there is currently no service in the Cerro and Cotorro districts but
they will get it in the coming days.

"The goal for this year is to have three city parks with wifi in each
district and to reach other areas with large crowds such as El
Castillito, the Cuba Pavilion, the Plaza of the Revolution, Balneario
University in the Playa district, and in the future, cafes, bars and
restaurants that request it," the official added.

At the close of 2015, more than 150,000 Cubans on average accessed the
internet every day, after the opening of 58 public wifi access points
across the island, according to data from ETECSA.

The creation of the popular wifi areas was one of the alternatives
implemented since July of last year by Cuba's state telecommunications
monopoly in order to expand internet connections, which continue to be
unavailable in private homes.

The island is currently one of the countries with the lowest rates of
connectivity in the world, with only 5 percent of the population having
internet access, a percentage that drops to 1 percent in the case of
broadband.

Internet access from private homes is not allowed except for Cubans in
some professions as medical professionals, journalists, academics and
intellectuals, who require special government permission to have
connections.

Source: Cuba Will Test Home Internet Service In Old Havana / EFE,
14ymedio | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/cuba-will-test-home-internet-service-in-homes-in-old-havana-efe-14ymedio/