1/14/2015
HAVANA – Cuban state telecommunications firm Etecsa denied Tuesday that it will offer Wi-Fi Internet service by the end of January in the eastern city of Santiago as was announced last weekend by the official Cuban Journalists’ Union, or UPEC.
“Etecsa says to all its customers that this information is false and was not issued by this organization,” the Cuban state telecom said in a note published by the island’s official press.
Last weekend UPEC said on its Web site that in late January, Wi-Fi services with a velocity of 1 megabyte per second and costing $4.50 per hour will begin to be offered in Santiago, the country’s second most important city.
However, Etecsa said Tuesday that the Wi-Fi services planned for the recreational technology park in Santiago “will be for surfing the Intranet (a restricted Internet service) over the network of the Joven Club Tinored.”
Cuba has one of the lowest Internet penetration rates in the world – around 5 percent – with services for accessing the Web that are very limited and extremely expensive.
Cubans are not allowed to access the Internet from their homes, except for certain professionals like doctors, teachers, artists and journalists.
Cubans currently access the Internet from hotels and at salons equipped with servers, paying $4.50 per hour for the service, a rate out of reach for the majority of the people on the island, where the average monthly salary is $20 to $30.
As part of the process of renewing relations between Cuba and the United States announced last Dec. 17, President Barack Obama spoke of a series of measures being taken toward the island, including new efforts to increase Cuba’s access to communications as the island offers “better freedom of information.”
source
HAVANA – Cuban state telecommunications firm Etecsa denied Tuesday that it will offer Wi-Fi Internet service by the end of January in the eastern city of Santiago as was announced last weekend by the official Cuban Journalists’ Union, or UPEC.“Etecsa says to all its customers that this information is false and was not issued by this organization,” the Cuban state telecom said in a note published by the island’s official press.
Last weekend UPEC said on its Web site that in late January, Wi-Fi services with a velocity of 1 megabyte per second and costing $4.50 per hour will begin to be offered in Santiago, the country’s second most important city.
However, Etecsa said Tuesday that the Wi-Fi services planned for the recreational technology park in Santiago “will be for surfing the Intranet (a restricted Internet service) over the network of the Joven Club Tinored.”
Cuba has one of the lowest Internet penetration rates in the world – around 5 percent – with services for accessing the Web that are very limited and extremely expensive.
Cubans are not allowed to access the Internet from their homes, except for certain professionals like doctors, teachers, artists and journalists.
Cubans currently access the Internet from hotels and at salons equipped with servers, paying $4.50 per hour for the service, a rate out of reach for the majority of the people on the island, where the average monthly salary is $20 to $30.
As part of the process of renewing relations between Cuba and the United States announced last Dec. 17, President Barack Obama spoke of a series of measures being taken toward the island, including new efforts to increase Cuba’s access to communications as the island offers “better freedom of information.”
source
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