Cuba News: Island Expanding Wi-Fi Access, Lowering Costs
Cuba will soon be increasing its currently limited internet access by adding Wi-Fi capacity to dozens of state-run internet centers.
The increase in internet access will be met with a simultaneous cutting down of the cost users pay for an hour online.
Back in December, when the U.S. and the communist nation agreed they would initiate a thaw in their hitherto icy diplomatic relations, the Cuban government expressed that it would provide its citizens with more internet access.
As reported by the BBC, a spokesman for Cuba's state communications company announced that 35 government computer centers nationwide would, starting in July, have Wi-Fi. The price of an hour’s worth of internet, which had been $4.50, will be brought down to $2 -- an amount that is still too much for a significant amount of Cubans to spend.
As reported by EFE in 2014, the average state salary in Cuba is around $20 a month.
The internet has been slow in coming to the island nation, but it is certainly on its way to becoming more available.
In March Cuba's state telecom agency Etecsa allowed the artist known as Kcho to open Cuba’s first public wireless hub at his cultural center. Kcho, who happens to be the son of a telecommunication technician, is operating the hub using his own government-approved internet connection. The artist is putting down about $900 per month to let everyone use his internet.
As reported in The Guardian, Kcho, whose real name is Alexis Leiva Machado, said he did this to encourage Cubans to familiarize themselves with the internet.
A mere 5 to 25 percent of Cubans of currently use the internet.
But those numbers might just reflect the Cubans that are using the internet legally.
In January, Gizmodo reported that since 2001 there has been a small number of "tech-savvy" Cuban citizens busy building a mesh Wi-Fi network that stretches across Havana, and now connects to over 9,000 computers across different neighborhoods in the capital.
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