TheCuban Telecommunications Company S.A. (ETECSA) announced this Monday thatthe submarine cable to bring internet to Cuba, in collaboration with the French company Orange S.A.,finally arrived at the island of Martinique.
"Moving forward in the announced project, today the new ARIMAO submarine cable that joins the coasts of Cuba touches land in Martinique, a connection system that will allow us to diversify and expand the Internet access capabilities of our country," he indicated. on their social networksTania Velazquez, executive president of ETECSA.
The laying of the cable with which the Cuban regime claims to propose diversifying its international connectivity,It started on December 9 from the Tricontinental port of Cienfuegos.
According to the state company that monopolizes communications in Cuba and is managed by theGrupo de Administración Empresarial S.A. (GAESA), held by the military, the ARIMAO project aims to create conditions that improve internet services on the Island, which, until now, only has a single connection of this type: the ALBA 1 system, in collaboration with Venezuela.
“Installation of the submarine cable by the French company Orange will link Cuba and Martinique. Those who block us accuse us of not bringing the Internet to the population. The Cuban Revolution works for the people,” he celebrated this TuesdayRodrigo Malmierca Díaz, Minister of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment in Cuba.
At the beginning of December, the French multinational Orange reported on the Arimao project in a statement in which it stated that it would bring an underwater fiber optic cable from the island of Martinique (overseas territory of France) to “expand the international connectivity” of the Cuban Internet users.
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,” he noted. .
“The physical structure of the cable will be ready by 2023 and it will provide the country with a new route for international services, geographically diversifying the current connectivity,” added ETECSA for its part, although it did not specify dates for its launch.
Likewise, the state telecommunications company indicated that the agreement "will allow it to expand and diversify international capacities in the face of the growing demand for internet connection and broadband services."
The Arimao project was made public after the recommendation of the Department of Justice to the Federal Communications Commission was known,in which he was opposed to granting a permit for the installation of the first underwater telecommunications cable that would connect the United States with Cuba, arguing "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, whenA 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 sincethe 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.
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