Cuba expanding communication with the outside world

Cuba expanding communication with the outside world
October 17, 8:58 AMSouth America Policy Examiner Sylvia Longmire

A few days after the U.S. government granted TeleCuba permission to
begin laying fiber optic cable between the Florida Keys and Cuba,
Venezuela announced it will also begin laying cable to the communist island.

According to Associated Press reports, Venezuela's science and
technology minister, Jesse Chacon, said his government has an agreement
with the Paris-based company Alcatel-Lucent to produce and lay the
optical communications fiber.

Chacon said Friday that the government expects to begin work soon.
His agency said last week that the link should be operational in two
years and will cost about $63 million.

According to separate Associated Press reports, TeleCuba said Tuesday
that its cable will be operating by the middle of 2011. It still needs
final permission from the Cuban government to land the cable.

Cuba is the only nation in the Western Hemisphere that is not linked to
the outside world by fiber optics. Instead, it relies on slow, expensive
satellite links.

Direct telephone communication between the U.S. and Cuba is possible,
but because of the expense, many people in both countries either use
calling cards or go through friends or family in a third-country
conference call.

Internet access is notoriously restricted on the island, and expanded
fiber optic communications capabilities may extend its availability to
Cuban citizens. It will also make the cost of out-of-country calls
significantly cheaper.

Venezuela is a staunch Cuban ally and an ideological U.S. foe, but it is
also at a logistical disadvantage in the project due to the difference
in distance to the island—966 miles, compared to 110 miles from Key West
to Cuba.

"We might get into a little race there with them," said Luis
Coello, CEO of TeleCuba.

The Cuban government has not made any statements regarding the potential
issues it might face in light of expanded communications between its
citizens and individuals in the U.S. and elsewhere who don't support the
Revolution.

Cuba expanding communication with the outside world (17 October 2009)
http://www.examiner.com/x-17196-South-America-Policy-Examiner~y2009m10d17-Cuba-expanding-communication-with-the-outside-world