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The Cuban comedian and actor Ulises Toirac once again targeted ETECSA this Sunday with a new ironic critique posted on his Facebook profile, in which he questioned why the state telecommunications company has not invested in backup batteries for its towers, despite the millions of dollars raised after the controversial rate increase in May 2025.
In her post from Sunday, July 12, Toirac wrote in Cuban popular slang: «#ETECSA my girl!!! With all the cash you've collected after the price hike to rectify the ones who were robbing you —cash in fresh and alive American English— why don’t you install batteries in your towers? Girl, for your life, it shows...! You’re not providing any service, dear, sweetheart! Where's all that cash gone, my girl?»
The message arrives amidst an unprecedented energy crisis in Cuba. On July 10, the fourth total blackout of the year occurred, with only 935 MW available compared to a demand of 3,100 MW. Two days earlier, the National Electro-Energetic System had recorded a historic deficit of 2,341 MW, affecting 73% of the population.
In that context, the ETECSA towers —without sufficient backup batteries, as a company executive admitted in June 2026— are out of service during outages, leaving the very users who pay in dollars without communication. In provinces like Matanzas, power cuts reached 87 consecutive hours in July; in Havana, the average is around 15 hours daily.
The contradiction pointed out by Toirac has concrete figures. Following the rate hike implemented on May 30, 2025, which multiplied the cost of mobile internet by 13, ETECSA's daily revenue increased from 10,000 dollars to 540,000 dollars daily, accumulating 24.8 million dollars in just 46 days, according to data acknowledged by Prime Minister Manuel Marrero.
Despite that extraordinary revenue, the quality of service did not improve. Cuba maintains an average internet speed of only 3.84 Mbps, one of the lowest in the region, and ranks 153rd globally in the Speedtest index for fixed broadband.
It is not the first time that Toirac has demanded public accountability regarding that money. In June 2026, he had already openly questioned where the funds collected from the rate increase were, without receiving an official response. His critical activism earned him a summons from State Security in June 2025, during which agents warned him that "it seems they don't like" his statements about the company.
ETECSA had justified the rate increase by claiming that it lacked foreign currency to modernize its infrastructure. However, the company acknowledged in April 2025 that it did not have funds for that modernization, and the regime extended its monopoly until 2036, with the possibility of extending it until 2066.
Toirac's question—where all that revenue went—remains officially unanswered as Cubans pay in dollars and lose signal every time the electricity goes out.
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