ETECSA

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ETECSA building in Santiago de Cuba

The Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba SA , shortly ETECSA , is a Cuban telecommunications company owned by the state. In every major town in Cuba there is an ETECSA telegraph office with internet workstations and a cell phone station.

Cellular network

ETECSA's mobile communications are operated by the subsidiary Cubacel .

Initially, a TDMA network (800 MHz) and a GSM network (900 and 850 MHz) were operated side by side. According to an official announcement by ETECSA, the TDMA network should be shut down on March 31, 2009. The GSM network now covers the entire island at 900 MHz; 850 MHz is offered as an additional option in tourist locations (e.g. Varadero, Cayo Coco). UMTS has also been available since March 2017 , initially mainly in Havana, the provincial capitals and some tourist- relevant regions. The speed should be 3 Mbit / s.

There are roaming contracts with German mobile network operators.

For a long time, mobile communications were severely restricted for the Cuban population. Mobile phone contracts for private use (also prepaid ) could initially only be concluded by foreigners and then left to a local. This restriction has been lifted since March 2008. Since then, further simplifications have gradually come into force, which led to a rapid growth in the number of connections. They grew from 331,000 (April 2008) to 838,000 (March 2010). In the summer of 2010 there were more than a million users. For the end of 2016, the number of active mobile phone contracts was given as 4 million.

Internet and e-mail service nauta

2 cards for internet use

Under the nauta brand , the company has been operating internet cafés across the country since 2013 and a public e-mail service for the local population - who can afford access. A network of WiFi access points has been set up since 2015 . It started with 35 hot spots in public places in larger cities. In December 2016, the expansion had progressed to 237 positions. Access costs 1  CUC per hour, almost 5% of an average Cuban monthly salary.

Prepaid cards must be purchased to use the Internet; they are available for ½, 1 and 5 hours. Since they occasionally expire unexpectedly, it is advisable to buy the cards for only 30 minutes - this will keep the loss less.

Internet access from ETECSA in private apartments that use a dial-up modem via the telephone network is correspondingly slow, costs around 100 euros per month according to media reports and is very rarely available. With an average monthly wage equivalent to around 16 euros, Internet use is unaffordable for many Cubans.

In December 2016, the US company Google and ETECSA signed an agreement to connect Cuba to the Google Global Cache , Google's content delivery network. The data centers located on the island are intended to give the Cubans better access to Google services such as Gmail or YouTube and to relieve Cuba's international Internet connections.

Shareholder structure

In February 2011, according to a publication in the Gaceta Oficial , the Cuban law gazette , 51 percent of the shares in Telefónica Antillana , 27 percent of Rafin , 11 percent of the Universal Trade & Management Corporation (Utisa), 6.15 percent of the Banco Financiero Internacional , 3, 8 percent of Negocios en Telecomunicaciones and 0.9 percent of Banco Internacional de Comercio .

Previously, Telecom Italia held 27 percent of the company's shares. Due to the difficult market environment - only a few Cubans can afford a mobile phone - the company originally considered selling its shares to the Spanish company Telefónica . Ultimately, however, the shares were sold to the Cuban company Rafin for $ 706 million . Of this, 500 million were due immediately and the rest in 36 monthly installments.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ ETECSA anuncia rebajas en la telefonía móvil y nuevos servicios Nauta (+ Infografía). Cubadebate, March 21, 2017, accessed March 21, 2017 (Spanish).
  2. ↑ José Miguel Solís Díaz: Avances de la telefonía 3G en Matanzas. Radio Rebelde, March 19, 2017, accessed March 22, 2017 (Spanish).
  3. ↑ Se triplicaron las líneas de celular en Cuba , information on the development of mobile contracts on Cubadebate.cu
  4. ^ Cuba asume el control de la empresa de telecomunicaciones ETECSA , RIA Novosti , 7 February 2011
  5. ↑ Cuba cerrará el 2016 con cuatro millones de líneas inalámbricas. Escambray, October 25, 2016, accessed March 21, 2017 (Spanish).
  6. ↑ Espacios públicos de conexión inalámbrica (WIFI) , ETECSA, accessed December 13, 2016
  7. ↑ http://www.netzpiloten.de/internet-kuba-einem-land-das-den-schluss-verloren-hat/
  8. ↑ Google Global Cache Locations , Interactive Map of Global Cache Locations, accessed December 13, 2016
  9. ↑ Google connects Cuba to its Global Cache Network , Golem.de , December 13, 2016
  10. ↑ a b Monopolio de telecomunicaciones ETECSA por primera vez solo cubano , AFP in Terra Colombia, February 3, 2011
  11. ↑ ftd.de : Cuba as a business location. The American dream of Mallorca ( memento from April 17, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) from April 14, 2009