Cuba is allowing a Havana cultural center to offer free public Wi-Fi for the first time on the island, according to the Washington Post.

Youths in Cuba are heading to the cultural center run by a Cuban artist, Kcho. A spokeswoman said state telecom Etecsa approved the introduction of the free public Wi-Fi. The move is a small but rare change to Cuba's strict Internet regulations.

The Wi-Fi offered at the cultural center is slower than most high-speed Internet connections offered in the world, but Cubans who have longed to log on are satisfied with being able to connect to Facebook, read world news and connect to friends and family outside of Cuba.

Adonis Ortiz, a 20-year old Cuban, was able to video chat with his father in the United States. He has not seen his father in nine years.

"I come as often as I can," he said. "Thanks to this service I can talk to him."

The center's Wi-Fi comes from Kcho's personal Internet connection, at a slow speed of 2 mbps. The average speed of Internet in the rest of the world is 3.9 mbps, The Verge reports.

The AP estimates Kcho is paying around $900 a month for his connection.

Kcho said he began offering the Wi-Fi service to encourage Cubans to use the Internet and to get familiar with it.

"This is an unusual thing, and it's only possible through the will to do it and absorb the costs," Kcho said. "It is expensive, but the benefit is tremendous. ... I have something that is great and powerful. I can share it, and I am doing so."  

The speed of the Internet at Kcho's studio often is slowed when multiple users are logged on. During the middle of the night, users find the speeds the fastest. 

Most of Cuba's population is still disconnected from the Internet. Internet centers in Cuba offer even slower (state-controlled) connections to the Internet than the one at Kcho's studio, at a cost of $4.50 per hour. Rich foreigners and some privileged Cubans can spend hundreds of dollars per month to get online, but the average salary in Cuba is only $20 a month.

Cuba wants to offer more Internet to its citizens but is prioritizing bandwidth to schools and workplaces. Critics say government restrictions have been preventing Cubans from getting online, but Cuba has slowly been loosening some of the restrictions as it increasingly opens to the West.