Cuba Still Has The Lowest Mobile Phone Penetration In Latin America

Cuba Still Has The Lowest Mobile Phone Penetration In Latin America
The Cuba - Telecoms, Mobile, and Broadband profiles the fixed-line,
mobile and broadband markets in Cuba
Published on July 31, 2009
by Press Office

Cuba - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband

The Cuba - Telecoms, Mobile, and Broadband profiles the fixed-line,
mobile and broadband markets in Cuba.

Cuba still has the lowest mobile phone penetration in Latin America, one
of the lowest levels of Internet penetration, and is among the five
lowest in terms of fixed-line teledensity. Cuba's fixed-line services
are a monopoly in the hands of government-controlled Empresa de
Telecomunicaciones de Cuba SA (Etecsa), while mobile services are
provided exclusively by Cubacel, a subsidiary of Etecsa.

There remains substantial state controls over the right to own and use
certain communications services, such as the right to access the
Internet. Although Raul Castro, who was made President in February 2008,
is more reform-minded than was his brother Fidel, the liberalisation of
Cuba's telecommunications sector, as with the liberalisation of other
government controls over Cuban life, is expected to occur slowly over
the next five to ten years.

This report contains overviews, analyses and statistics of the Cuban
fixed-line, mobile and broadband markets.

Key highlights:
• In March 2008 Raul Castro, shortly after taking the reins of power,
issued a decree stating that Cubans could henceforth legally own and use
mobile phones by taking out pre-paid subscriptions. Nevertheless, the
same decree stipulated that contracts must be paid for in Cuban
Convertible Pesos, a currency which, in spite of a thriving black
market, is officially only available to foreigners.
• A significant new deployment in coming years includes a new submarine
fibre-optic cable linking Cuba and Venezuela in 2010. The cable is
expected to triple Cuba's capacity for communications abroad as well as
free the country from its current reliance on the slow and unreliable
Internet access it employs via US satellite systems.
• Whilst Cubans are still prohibited from general access to the
Internet, soon after Fidel Castro's retirement a number of electronic
goods joined the list of legally accessible products, including personal
computers.
• In early 2009 the government gave hope to many Cubans when it stated
that it was not "currently" planning to legalise Internet services for
the general public, as happened with mobile phones in 2008, but that it
remained a possibility that "is not being discarded".
• Whilst Etecsa reportedly increased its subscriber base by more than
130,000 during 2008, in January 2009 the incumbent mobile provider
stated that it intended to add a further 250,000 subscribers during
2009, reaching a total 1.6 million mobile subscribers by 2012 or 10% of
the population.

Cuba - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband:
http://www.companiesmarkets.com/r.ashx?id=N2MYYMQ8L83922

OfficialWire: Cuba Still Has The Lowest Mobile Phone Penetration In
Latin America (31 July 2009)
http://www.officialwire.com/main.php?action=posted_news&rid=12589