The mobile network is also going down in Cuba: ETECSA reports more outages due to lack of backup power

ETECSA acknowledged this Tuesday a widespread deterioration of its mobile network across Cuba, directly attributed to the power outage that has left the country without electricity since Monday.

The telecommunications company of the regime published an official informative note on Facebook, in which it admitted that "due to electrical failures and difficulties with the generators that support the network, there has been a reported increase in mobile service disruptions."

The statement comes almost 24 hours after Cuba experienced a total disconnection of the National Electric System on Monday, July 6, marking the seventh total blackout in 18 months and the third so far in 2026.

This Tuesday, Cuba remained in a widespread blackout nearly 24 hours later, with the national electrical system not having fully recovered.

The dependence of the telecommunications network on the electrical supply is a structural problem that ETECSA itself has acknowledged.

In June 2026, a company official publicly admitted that "the telecommunications infrastructure cannot be kept operational for more than 24 hours without grid power."

The official data from the company illustrates the magnitude of the problem: power outages render approximately 47.5% of mobile radio bases and 56.5% of telecommunications cabinets inoperable on a national scale.

Approximately 450 radio bases are disrupted daily due to prolonged use of generators, which accumulate mechanical failures and fuel exhaustion.

The situation is particularly critical in provinces such as Sancti Spíritus, where only 21 out of 70 telephone exchanges have backup generators, leaving more than 288,000 mobile lines vulnerable.

A similar situation occurred in March 2026, when a malfunction in the ETECSA generator in Cárdenas left that city without mobile or landline service.

As a temporary measure, ETECSA has begun installing solar panels in certain areas, although they provide limited autonomy of between seven and eight hours, which is insufficient to sustain the network during prolonged outages like the current one.

This Tuesday, the United States Embassy in Havana issued its seventh security alert of the year, warning that Cuba's electrical grid "is becoming increasingly unstable."

In parallel, since July 2, there have been recorded pot-banging protests and spontaneous demonstrations in Havana and Santiago de Cuba, met with police operations.

In its statement, ETECSA limited itself to noting that "our specialists are working continuously to ensure its availability," without providing timelines or details on the actual extent of the affected areas.