ETECSA ensures to provide the "cheapest" internet in the Caribbean.

"According to the parameters of the informal exchange rate, one gigabyte of mobile data is equivalent to 0.17 dollars, the lowest correlation in the entire Caribbean," stated the commercial vice president of ETECSA in the official newspaper Granma.

Current affairs
CiberCuba Editing

23/05/2024 - 3:39pm (GMT-5)

Cargando — ETECSA office in HavanaPhoto © CiberCuba

Oficina de ETECSA en La Habana © CiberCuba — ETECSA office in HavanaPhoto © CiberCuba

In a context marked by the growing inflationary process of the economy and the progressive devaluation of the Cuban peso (CUP), the communications monopoly in Cuba, ETECSA, stated that its internet service is the cheapest in the entire Caribbean.

According to Lidia Esther Hidalgo Rodríguez, commercial vice president of the state company, it is possible to patent this fact taking into account the parameters of the informal exchange rate: "One gig of mobile data is equivalent to 0.17 dollars," she told the official newspaper Granma.

The mentioned "lower correlation throughout the Caribbean" is ridiculous and controversial, considering that 88% of Cubans live below the poverty line and the country's minimum wage is 2,100 CUP per month, approximately six dollars (according to the informal exchange rate), below the extreme poverty thresholds (defined by the World Bank: 2.15 dollars in total daily income).

Cuban woman looking at her phone. Photo: CiberCuba

With 7.8 million mobile users, of which 7.3 are enabled to use the internet for being the only telecommunications company in the country, ETECSA offers 54,000 business services with an average bandwidth of 6 Mbps, and "works to create and improve technological platforms for electronic payment."

In this sense, Hidalgo pointed out that the online payment platform Transfermóvil will soon reach five million active customers, with an average of more than 40 transactions per second.

He also mentioned that the company increased its capabilities with 250 satellite stations to bring telecommunications to isolated areas, despite the impact of the repeated and hackneyed "blockade" that conditions higher prices for equipment purchases and maintenance execution.

And true to form, she attributed the shortcomings and difficulties to external factors. "The impact of the blockade conditions higher prices for the company's purchases, in a range of between 30% and 40%. In contrast, foreign currency revenues, throughout this year, decreased by 30% compared to the same period in 2023," the official stated.