The energy crisis affecting Cuba is causing new interruptions in telecommunications services in Havana. The prolonged blackouts and the challenges in maintaining the electrical backup for technological facilities have begun to impact several communities in the capital with greater intensity.
The Territorial Division of the Telecommunications Company of Cuba (ETECSA) in Havana reported this Monday on an increase in disruptions across various localities in the municipalities of Habana del Este and La Lisa.
"We inform you that, due to the existing energy situation and difficulties with the support of technological sites, after long periods of operation, there is a rise in disruptions of various telecommunications services," the entity stated in its announcement.
According to ETECSA, the disruptions are reported in Alamar, Camilo Cienfuegos, Villa Panamericana, Alturas de La Lisa, Balcón de Arimao, San Agustín, and Arroyo Arenas.
The company acknowledged that the recovery of services directly depends on the restoration of electricity to its facilities.
Services will be restored as they receive power, he stated.
The explanation leaves residents of the mentioned areas without a specific timeline for the normalization of communications, as the restoration depends on the availability of electricity supply.
When prolonged outages occur, telecommunications facilities rely on batteries, generators, and other backup systems to keep their equipment operational.
If those resources are depleted or cease to function, services such as mobile phone service, calls, and Internet access may be affected, depending on the type of installation and the infrastructure that remains active.
In this case, ETECSA did not specify which specific services are interrupted in each locality, so it is unclear whether residents have simultaneously lost telephone and Internet connectivity.
The situation is particularly complicated for those who need to communicate with family members, use digital services, work, or carry out tasks that depend on a stable connection.
The new disruptions in Havana occur after the company itself acknowledged the deterioration of its ability to maintain telecommunications during the blackouts.
In September, ETECSA admitted that the lack of electricity prevented the operation of numerous technological sites and limited their ability to expand the network.
In that statement, the company revealed that during the national blackout on September 18, more than 80% of the base station sites and nearly 70% of the telecommunications cabinets were out of service.
It also reported that Internet traffic saw a reduction of up to 58% compared to similar periods.
The entity then acknowledged that it was not feasible to continue expanding access infrastructure without first having the necessary energy backup capacity to keep it operational.
The consequences of that dependence had already been revealed during other recent interruptions.
At the beginning of October, ETECSA reported issues with Nauta navigation and the Transfermóvil electronic payment platform, after energy problems caused several systems and technological equipment to go offline.
Two days later, the company announced the restoration of both platforms, although it did not provide technical details about the actions that enabled the recovery of their functionality.
However, the crisis has also caused difficulties in other provinces. On October 11, it was reported that more than 100 of the 179 existing radio bases in Camagüey could remain powered off simultaneously due to the electricity deficit.
The territorial director of ETECSA in that province, Luel García Lorenzo, acknowledged that the main reason for the interruptions was the lack of energy supply.
When a significant number of radio bases cease to operate, the facilities that remain functional may become overloaded due to the increase in users trying to connect through them.
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