Work begins to install submarine cable between Cuba and Martinique

The Cuban Telecommunications Company S.A. (ETECSA) and the French company Orange S.A. Work began on the installation of the submarine cable to bring internet to Cuba from the island of Martinique.

“Today the official ceremony was held to begin the technical work of installing the new submarine cable, the result of joint work between the ETECSA and Orange S.A. teams, which will allow diversifying the Internet connection routes in Cuba,” he noted this Thursday in Tania. Velázquez, Executive President of ETECSA

With this project, the island's government intends to diversify its international connectivity, since until now the only route of this type is the ALBA 1 system, by agreement between Cuba and Venezuela.

This Wednesday it was known that an agreement was signed between the aforementioned companies to expand connectivity on the island.

In a statement, the company Orange S.A reported on the Arimao Project that will bring an underwater fiber optic cable from the island of Martinique (overseas territory of France) to “expand international connectivity” for Cuban Internet users.

Subordinated to the GAESA business conglomerate, controlled by the military caste of the Cuban regime, the state telecommunications company indicated that the agreement "will allow the expansion and diversification of international capabilities in the face of the growing demand for internet connection and broadband services."

“The physical structure of the cable will be ready by 2023 and will provide the country with a new route for international services, geographically diversifying the current connectivity,” the company said, although it did not specify dates for its launch.

The Arimao project “is a submarine cable system deployed by Orange, through its subsidiary Orange Marine, which will connect the Caribbean island of Martinique with the province of Cienfuegos, and whose capacity will allow ETECSA to support its international expansion,” according to described the aforementioned statement.

“This will allow, in accordance with the country's economic possibilities, to continue expanding international connectivity in line with the development plan linked to the computerization of society,” concluded the company that offers and controls internet access in the country.

The Arimao project is made public after learning of the recent recommendation of the United States Department of Justice to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in which it was shown contrary to granting permission requested for the installation of the first submarine telecommunications cable that would connect the United States territory with that of Cuba. They argued "risks to national security" and "a counterintelligence threat."

ETECSA, a company with high rejection rates among Cuban users, has been denounced on countless occasions for massive internet cuts at times of protests by Cuban civil society or mobilizations called by activists.

The most recent of them occurred on November 26, when A massive internet outage affected more than 70% of network traffic in Cuba, during the early morning before the start of the People's Power municipal elections.

Cubans have suffered massive internet outages since the historic protests of 11J, when the government decided to cut the service to avoid the traffic of information about the events. The population blamed the socialist state company for this arbitrariness.

The Cuban telecommunications company had a long history of participation in foreign investment until at the end of the 90s it paid 706 million dollars to the Italian TIM for 27% of its participation, making it a 100% Cuban capital company. , reinforcing its monopolistic condition.

In turn, the company left the orbit of the Ministry of Communications and Electronics of Cuba and was located together with Banco Financiero Internacional, S.A. (BFI) on the platform of the military business conglomerate GAESA.

With eight million national and foreign clients, ETECSA holds a monopoly on telephone and communications services in Cuba, including profitable international telephone calls.

Orange S.A., initially known as General Directorate of Telecommunications and later as France Telecom, is a French multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Paris.

It provides global mobile telephony, fixed telephony, Internet, mobile Internet, and IP television services. It has 263 million customers globally and employs 100,000 people in France and 170,000 in the rest of the world. The company generated revenues of 40,236 million in 2015.