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While millions of Cubans grapple daily with an internet connection that ranges from slow to non-existent, the publishing house of ETECSA had a brilliant idea this Saturday: to present children's books aimed at teaching kids about the wonderful world of telecommunications. The Cuban Institute of the Book and Ediciones Conexión presented three titles yesterday during the "Sábado del Libro" event in Havana: "De teléfonos te hablamos" by Lucía C. Sanz Araujo; "Tonito. La historieta" by Alexis Gutiérrez Gelabert; and "Tonito. Suplemento técnico para niños," volume 2026.
The presentation was led by Grisel Ojeda, director of Ediciones Conexión —the scientific-technical publishing house affiliated with the state telecommunications monopoly—, along with the author Alexis Gutiérrez Gelabert and the editors Mirta Ulloa and Inés María León Martínez.
Ojeda emphasized with utmost seriousness that the objective is to "guide and educate the youngest about the history of telecommunications and computing in Cuba." The editors, for their part, agreed that the titles aim to "bring the complex world of telephony closer to children with an engaging language and a dynamic approach."
How generous of ETECSA: teaching children about telephony in a country where adults cannot afford to pay for the service. A 15 GB plan costs up to 11,760 Cuban pesos, which is several times the minimum monthly salary. Since May 2025, the company has also limited top-ups in pesos to 360 CUP per month and expanded plans in dollars, further deepening the digital divide for the majority of the population.
Furthermore, as of January 29, 2026, ETECSA charges up to 3 dollars per minute for international roaming calls, one dollar for SMS, and another dollar for each megabyte of data. Connecting with the outside world from Cuba has become a luxury reserved for very few.
Regarding speed, Cuba ranked 153rd in the global Speedtest ranking for fixed broadband as of April 2026, with only 3.04 Mbps recorded in January 2025. For the children reading "Tonito" to one day experience that internet spoken of in books, they will have to wait decades or emigrate.
When the service fails —which is almost always— ETECSA has an endless repertoire of excuses. In October 2025, it blamed the "atmospheric duct" for the connection failures, an explanation that led to widespread ridicule. Previously, in April 2025, it pointed to illegal antennas and unapproved repeaters, warning that 6% of the cells in the country were critically interfered with and that Havana accounted for 12% of external interference. The chronic electrical crisis further exacerbates communications, as the company's backup batteries only sustain service for a few hours during outages.
But the most revealing episode of what ETECSA truly is occurred on July 11, 2021, when the company cut off internet access across Cuba while the people took to the streets to protest. An operator from the company itself acknowledged that the interruption "was decided by the highest leadership of the country." NetBlocks and Access Now documented the simultaneous blocking of WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and Telegram. Now that is truly "bringing the complex world of telecommunications" closer to the people: turning off the switch when they need it the most.
This practice of selective disconnection has been applied impunely by the company, according to reports from opponents, activists, and critical intellectual voices against the regime.
The state monopoly on telecommunications raised millions of dollars after the unjustified rate hike of 2025, without this translating —as has been publicly promised— into improved connectivity or service stability, which has increased frustration and mistrust among users.
Ediciones Conexión participated for the first time in the International Book Fair of Havana in February 2025, and the supplement "Tonito" has been published for a decade now. Ten years educating Cuban children about telecommunications while the company funding those books keeps them among the least connected on the planet. The irony needs no further explanation.
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