Home connectivity is coming 4Q 2014 and there are 11,000 Nauta accounts

EFE reports that ETECSA plans to offer home Internet connectivity in the fourth quarter of 2014. They also hinted that some mobile connectivity may be offered at that time.

The connections will use DSL, not dial up, according to Jorge Legrá, Director of Strategic Programs ETECSA.

There was no mention of the costs of the home service or the places it would be available. It is clear that Cuba's poor domestic Internet infrastructure is hampering wider usage.

Legrá also discussed the new Nauta access centers, saying that ETECSA sold about 11,000 accounts in the first 15 days they were offered. He acknowledged that prices were high and would be adjusted over time.

Legrá also gave a glimpse of the surveillance in the centers -- users must present identity documents to get online and a session can be suspended for "any violation of the standards of ethical behavior that promotes the Cuban state."

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Update 7/11/2013

The New York Times has an article on the new access centers -- anecdotes and opinion as to what they foretell.

The Good Fairy of the Internet and her Magic Wand

Last week I attended the Index on Censorship ‘Caught in the Web’ event.  I asked a question from the floor and was put on the spot by chair David Aaronovitch about David Cameron's call for the big players to do more about child porn on the internet.  Answered along the lines of not really understanding what more Cameron thought they could do, given that the Internet Watch Foundation runs a list already; and needing to examine any proposals to see if they carry too high a price in terms of interference with freedom of expression. 

OK as far as it went, but this is what I should have said.  When politicians demand that the most visible targets (ISPs, search engines, social media platforms) should do more to stop whatever abomination is hitting today’s headlines, really they just want a good fairy of the internet to wave a magic wand and make the nastiness go away.  The trouble is that the good fairy is a myth, the magic wand rubs out good stuff and the bigger the magic wand the more of the good stuff it rubs out.  And the nastiness still doesn’t go away.

Worst of all, when each has had its turn at waving the magic wand - the child protectionists, the responsible speakers, the cultural preservationists, the extreme speech purgers, the adcensors, the promoters of the public interest, the filth filterers, the religious reverents, the porn exterminators, the benevolent regulators, the upholders of community standards, the real namers, the guardians of the general good, the copyright cops, the internet safety inspectors, the privacy protectors, the departments of public harmony, the joke jailers, the moral champions, the speech cleaners and scrubbers and all the clamouring crew of prohibitionists – what then is left?

If the fundamental human right of free speech means anything, it is that we can build search engines without fear that the State will make us convert them into suppression engines.

Yoani online near Playa Siboney -- slow and filtered, but a start

Yoani Sánchez has written a post on her visit to Siboney, the city where the ALBA-1 undersea cable lands.

Siboney was hard hit by Hurricane Sandy, destroying property, causing environmental damage and reducing toursim. Sánchez suggests that improved Internet connectivity would have been relatively cheap and helped with recovery, but that has not happened.

Sánchez visited one of the new Internet access centers in Santiago de Cuba, less than 10 miles from the Siboney landing point. The center was an air-conditioned room with four computers and an attendant, who she suspects is keeping an eye on the users.
She was able to access several blogs, but the classified ad site Revolico was blocked as were Cubaencuentro and Cubanet. She ran a speed test and saw she was getting 1.77 Mbps download and .56 Mbps upload with a ping time of 234 ms.

In spite of these discouraging observations, she concludes on a positive note -- this is a crack in the Internet wall, and it may widen.

Yoani Sánchez tweets from a new Internet access center

The Nuevo Herald newspaper wrote about initial experience with the new Internet centers.  The say that connectivity is expensive and slow, but faster than before -- no surprises.  The Herald article notes that Yoani Sánchez visited one of the centers, where she accessed her blog and the Nuevo Herald Web site and viewed an unintentionally ironic warning that others might see information you send to the Internet.

Check the photos she tweeted below.

Google Plus community on the Internet in Cuba

I invite you to join our Google Plus community on the Internet in Cuba.

This blog is pretty much a one-way street -- I write the posts and a few people comment.

Hopefully all members of the community will post and discuss material relevant to the Internet -- technology, applications and implications -- in Cuba.

Etecsa officials provide some details and make some promises

Etecsa officials held a press conference in which they made the point that the 118 new Internet access rooms are just the start of improved Internet service.

They promised lower prices, more access rooms, WiFi in access rooms, mobile connectivity, etc., but did not give specifics.

The article did, however, give some specifics about the service which will be offered starting June 4. The connection speed will be "up to" two megabits per second, depending upon the available infrastructure at each location. All Web services will be available -- chat, social networks, email, uploading and downloading of files, etc.

However, VOIP calls will be prohibited in accordance with Resolution 120/2003 of the Telecommunications Company of Cuba. I wonder whether "click to talk" services on Web sites will work. The VOIP restriction protects Etecsa revenue for now, but it may turn out to be difficult to enforce.

The slow connection speed -- up to 2 mbps -- reflects the remark of Jorge Luis Legros, Director of Etecsa Strategic Programs,  when asked about the impact of the undersea cable.  He said that it will improve service but "investments in networks and systems to bring access closer to the end user are needed."

What can Cuba do to attract that investment from China or other nations?

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Update 5/31/2013

Related commentary on the opening of the new access rooms from Granma:

La estrategia es continuar ampliando los servicios de Internet a la población
Vague promises of things to come

No será el mercado quien regule el acceso al conocimiento
Interview of Wilfredo González Vidal, viceministro del Ministerio de Comunicaciones

New public access will open June 4

The undersea cable link between Cuba and Jamaica came online in mid May and that connection may now be bearing fruit. Etecsa will open 118 new public access centers on June 4.

It is noteworthy that the access centers are dispersed throughout the island. Only 12 of the 118 are in Havana. That indicates the existence of a domestic backbone.  It would be interesting to get some information on it.

It is also indicative of a Cuban policy of developing areas outside the capital and major cities, which has been followed since the early networking days.  Even then, Cuba was less focused on one or two major cities than other developing nations.

Pricing will be as follows:

• Domestic browsing and email .60 CUC/hour
• International email plus domestic navigation 1.50 CUC/hour
• International browsing and email 4.50 CUC/hour

Patrons will also be allowed to bring flash drives for uploading and downloading files.

This is a step in the right direction, but these rates are very high by international standards and beyond the reach of many Cubans.  Given the capacity of the undersea cable, it is hard to understand the high prices and the large difference between domestic and international connectivity.  Perhaps Etecsa consulted with AT&T, Comcast and Verizon in setting their rates :-).

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Update 5/28/2013

Cuban access prices

Here is full price schedule for permanent (rechargeable) and prepaid tourist Internet access.

The graphic design of the page is trendy by Cuban standards -- they must have been watching ads for MicroSoft Windows 8!

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Update
5/29/2013

The New York Times had an article on the new centers and prices (nyti.ms/18tZEr8). It makes the usual points about cost, constraints and survailance. Here is an ironic quote:

“It’s a real bargain,” said a user on the state news Web site Cuba Si who gave the name Osvaldo Ulloa. “I mean, I work for a week and then I can get online for hour — fabulous.”

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Update 5/29/2013

It is noteworthy that only 12 of the 118 new access centers are in Havana.

Havana  12 Pinar del Rio  5 Artemis  8 Mayabeque  2 Matanzas  18 Cienfuegos  5 Villa Clara  15 Sancti Spiritus  9 Ciego de Avila  4 Camaguey  9 Las Tunas  9 Holguin  4 Granma  7 Santiago de Cuba  7 Guantanamo  3 Isle of Youth  1 Total 118

Since the early days of the Internet, Cuba has favored wide dispersal more than most developing nations.