Cuba begins full internet access for mobile phones
139 views · Published 11 December 2018 · 1:11 · Indexed 14 October 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(6 Dec 2018) Cuban citizens on Thursday began receiving cell phone data services allowing them to access to the internet. Cuba has become one of the last nations to offer access to the internet Miguel Pillet, a butcher, welcomed the development. Until now, Cubans have had access only to state-run email accounts on their phones. The Cuban government has been building a 3G network in cities across the island and some tourists, Cuban government officials and foreign business people have had access to it for several years. But Yoemil Hernandez a telecommunications agent, said he cannot not afford the cost of even the smallest package. The new service will cost about 10 cents per megabyte, with packages ranging from 600 megabytes for about seven US dollars to four gigabytes for about 30 dollars. Those prices are roughly in line with global standards but still out of reach for many Cubans who subsist on state salaries of about 30 US dollars a month. Cuba authorized home internet in 2017 and hundreds of public Wi-Fi connection points have opened in parks and plazas around the country. The government opened state-run internet cafes in 2013, joined by Wi-Fi sites two years later. The number of sites has grown to more than 800. The communist-governed island has one of the world's lowest rates of internet use but that has been expanding rapidly since Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro declared detente in 2014. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/600b71f5e512c3696dcb432bc72581f5
