Telephone coverage and internet speed affected by blackouts in Matanzas and Sancti Spíritus

TheBlackouts affected telephone coverage and internet speed in Matanzas and Sancti Spíritus, official sources reported.

As explained by Jesús Bethencurt, Head of the ETECSA Telecommunications Center to the Cárdenas telecenterTelebanderaWhen the power supply is affected, the base station system automatically switches to the backup batteries to continue emitting a signal, but when the batteries run out, the signal stops being transmitted.

According to the telecenter's Facebook post, the batteries have a maximum use time of two or three hours, during which they keep the mobile phone network active. However, as the blackouts continue, “the batteries are discharged and only recharged again after two hours of power service being restored.”

“When this happens (the batteries are discharged) the backup systems stop emitting a signal and mobile devices have to use other more distant antennas within the same city,” the post said.

According to Calixto Martínez Sosa, head of the Human Capital Department at ETECSA of Sancti Spíritus, when looking for other radio bases to connect, the networks become saturated and the connection slows down, it emerged in a note fromEscambray.

With a triumphalist tone, the local newspaper affirms that it is not giving up “the development of cellular telephony, nor the installation of new equipment with which to promote telecommunications in the province,” but the effects will continue because the electro-energy crisis is increasingly ever more worrying.

The interruptions even reach landlines, SMS messages and voice transmission.

In a country where internet speed isthe worst in Latin America and the Caribbean, electrical service interruptions will continue to aggravate a situation that is already becoming complex.

In the Worldwide Broadband Speed League 2022 report, Cuba has a speed of 3.26 megabits per second (Mbps) of broadband transmission, and is in 203rd place below Venezuela in 187th place (with a speed of 4.47Mbps).

In addition to the blackouts and the government's poor management to improve the quality of the internet signal, the intentional cuts also make it impossible for Cubans to access the network.

Amid civic protests to demand the restoration of electricity,The Cuban government has interrupted internet access on the island on several occasions.

Several sites confirmed thecomplete transmission collapse of the Internet in Cuba to prevent citizens from sharing information on social networks about expressions of indignation over the Cuban crisis.