The prolonged blackouts affecting Santiago de Cuba are also leaving thousands of people without mobile coverage: between 140 and 150 Etecsa sites are out of service daily due to lack of electricity or fuel to keep the generators running.
The magnitude of the problem was acknowledged by Ricardo Serrano Díaz, territorial director of the Telecommunications Company of Cuba (Etecsa), in a report published by Granma this Sunday regarding the deterioration of telecommunications in the province.
«85% of the mobile network is powered by electricity, and we do not always have fuel to address this shortage; we have 200 mobile sites (transmission towers) that are currently offline due to lack of power or fuel to support the generators. In real time, 140 to 150 are going offline daily for this reason», stated Serrano, putting the magnitude of the crisis into perspective.
The impacts are not limited to mobile telephony. According to the executive, the highest incidences on the fixed network are concentrated in Santiago de Cuba, San Luis, Contramaestre, Palma Soriano, and Songo-La Maya, while Etecsa claims to be providing an average of just 120 solutions daily.
In the absence of electricity, Etecsa is attempting to expand the use of solar energy. Currently, Santiago de Cuba has 17 mobile sites powered by solar panels, and the company hopes to end the year with 35 protected installations; however, this is clearly just a temporary solution to a much more complex situation.
The energy crisis has turned electricity into one of the major weak points of the telecommunications infrastructure, but in addition to the lack of power, the deterioration caused by theft and vandalism adds to the problem.
In Santiago de Cuba, for example, there have been more than 40 incidents against telecommunications networks and facilities, according to official information. The 64% would have been concentrated in the urban center José Martí.
However, the problem became evident again this weekend when two solar panels were stolen from a telephone cabinet in the Santa Bárbara neighborhood, just a few blocks away from one of the police stations in the city, leaving nearly 900 users without energy backup for telephone and data services.
Thefts of panels, fittings, tower components, breakers, and radio base equipment have also been reported. Serrano acknowledged that in some cases, Etecsa does not have the necessary resources to replace what has been stolen.
As expected, the problem is not limited to the province of Santiago de Cuba. In Las Tunas, for example, thefts of solar panels and cables have affected facilities related to water, telecommunications, and electricity generation, worsening the precariousness of basic services that are already suffering due to blackouts.
Additionally, days ago, Etecsa already warned of an increase in interruptions caused by power outages and issues with the generators.
The company itself has acknowledged that, during power outages, nearly 47.5% of mobile radio bases and 56.5% of telecommunications cabinets may become inoperative.
Of the approximately 2,520 radio bases in the country, only about half have some form of energy backup, and around 450 have mechanical issues or lack fuel in their generators.
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