The capital city of Cuba will be running a free Wi-Fi program for 2,000 of its citizens.
Until recently, Cuba was known to be among the countries with the lowest presence of Internet services. Moreover, all Internet content was subjected to the review of the Department of Revolutionary Orientation. Thus, Cubans had limited Internet access and their main web page had been an encyclopedia that describes only the government’s point of view. However, things are about to change for the better. A telecommunication company called ETECSA would start connecting 2,000 households in Havana to the internet. It will be a free Wi-Fi program that is currently in a trial format which will last for two months.
This Wednesday, the Cuban government announced that for the first time in the history of their country, people would benefit Internet access from their homes. Until now, there were only 118 Internet Cafes operating around Cuba. People had no other sources of web services than these hubs.
There will be designated 2,000 houses in the old city of Havana, the capital city of Cuba and also the largest urban area of the country. ETECSA has already started the operation on December 19th. The state-run telecom company has been calling the future users of their free Wi-Fi program over their office. Here, the Cuban citizens took some tests to decide their fitting for the program. Afterward, they signed the contract and took new equipment with them. Back home they have to install it and activate their own ADSL internet connection.
If everything goes well, after this two-month trial, the company will extend the program across the entire country. The participants at the test will be able to enjoy up to 30 hours of online activity in a month. The speed will vary from 128 KB to 2 MB per second.
At the end of the test, they will have the choice to continue operating their home Internet connection. However, this comes with prices between $15 and $115 according to the selected speed rate. The taxes can be seen as a real obstacle for the new level of Internet access. The majority of people here earns somewhere around $30 a month.
The new service will be to the great benefit of Cuban citizens. From now on, they will be able to unlock the capacity of new online technology. The country will be able to communicate more freely with the outside world also.
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