The Telecommunications Company of Cuba S. A. (ETECSA) confirmed on Monday through its social media the connecting the special municipality of Isla de la Juventud to the national network, after more than six days of near-total isolation.
The disruption began on September 8, when damage to the two maritime links that support the territory's connectivity left the entire island without mobile service and reduced landline telephony to strictly local calls.
The state-owned company attributed the recovery to "several days of joint work by our employees and those of other institutions."
The weather conditions significantly complicated the work: on September 12, although specialists had already identified the exact location of the fault, the bad weather prevented them from bringing the cable to the surface to carry out the fiber splice with the required precision.
During those days, Cuban families inside and outside the island reported the inability to communicate with their loved ones, while ETECSA did not provide an estimated date for restoration.
As a contingency measure, the company maintained an emergency satellite link to support only the transmission of state radio and television in the territory, without implying a full restoration of mobile or fixed connectivity.
On Saturday, a day before the final announcement, ETECSA reported a gradual recovery of voice and data traffic, indicating that the connection had started to yield results.
The Island of Youth is the only special municipality in Cuba, and its connection to the national network relies exclusively on submarine cables, unlike the other provinces, which are interconnected by land. This dependence makes it particularly vulnerable to prolonged interruptions, as repairs require specialized vessels and favorable maritime conditions.
Despite the good news, the recovery of the infrastructure is not complete. ETECSA warned that the second damaged maritime link remains out of service and that its specialists "maintain constant monitoring of the behavior of the parameters associated with services in the territory."
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