Cuba USA
"The people want to be connected."
Maya Arevich Marín has been president of ETECSA for four years. The following are a few points from a recent year-end interview.
Finally, Arevich Marín said that since they must pay for infrastructure and equipment with convertible currency, they need to continue generating revenue through expensive service, foreign recharging, exportable services, international voice and roaming charges and government subsidy.
In a way, this was a typical year-end summary by any CEO -- mentioning achievements for the year past and hinting at some plans for the coming year, while ignoring problems.
Viewed from the perspective of the Internet in a developed nation, I am saddened by how little connectivity Cubans have, but I am more interested in where Cuba will be five or more years from now, so, for me, the key point in this interview was the last one -- citing the need for convertible currency. It is an indication that, at least for now, Cuba has decided to be relatively self-sufficient with respect to the Internet, but can they afford a self-sufficient Internet?
The conventional wisdom is that if Cuba wants to expand the Internet quickly, they should privatize and regulate the Internet in return for foreign investment. For example, Doug Madory has suggested licensing mobile providers, an approach that has led to rapid improvement of the mobile Internet in Myanmar, another "green field" nation. Cuba is seeking foreign investment in industries like mining and oil production, but the Internet is basic domestic infrastructure that might reasonably be kept independent. They should consider alternatives for infrastructure ownership and regulation along with foreign investment.
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Update 2/5/2016
ETECSA officials held a press conference yesterday. Here is some of what they said. (My comments are in parenthesis).
At the end of the year there were 3.3 million mobile accounts. (Mobile Internet access is primarily used for personal communication and entertainment, not content creation or productivity applications).
They acknowledge and are working on peak load problems.
Rates have been reduced. (But they remain high enough to create a digital divide within Cuba).
They cautioned that the Old Havana pilot study was only a trial.
There are now agents selling telecommunication cards and recharge coupons (but not satellite access, which US operators are now allowed to provide).
They acknowledged that some of the public access hotspots were in inappropriate locations.
100 cellular base stations will be upgraded from 2G to 3G during the first half of 2016. (How many base stations are there altogether, what percent of the population will have 3G coverage at their homes and offices and why 3G)?
They will establish 80 new public WiFi hotspots this year and offer a variety of handsets for sale. (Is ETECSA the sole vendor for handsets)?
-----
Update 3/31/2016
ETECSA executives held a round-table discussion on Internet services and WiFi hotspots and you can read the transcript here.
A couple of items caught my eye:
In general, I was struck by their reiteration of commitment to already obsolete equipment like ADSL to homes and 3G mobile. I hope they consider this and the WiFi hotspots stopgap technology and are making plans for leapfrogging today's technology and today's infrastructure ownership and regulation policies.
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Cuba USA
Year end interview of the president of ETECSA
"The people want to be connected."
 |
| ETECSA president, ingeniera Mayra Arevich Marín |
Maya Arevich Marín has been president of ETECSA for four years. The following are a few points from a recent year-end interview.
- Internet access was improved through the rollout of Nauta rooms, WiFi hotpsots and improved connectivity at institutions that are important to the society.
- By the end of the year, there will be 65 WiFi hotspots and they will add 80 more during 2016.
- Today there are over 700 public access points in navigation rooms, cyber-cafes, hotels and airports.
- Average daily access is over 150,000 people -- double last year.
- They are encouraging the move to permanent Nauta accounts and hiring agents at WiFi hotspots to stop resellers. They are also experimenting with having people at the WiFi hotspots to assist customers. (It takes time to train support and marketing people).
- They are also working on a system to let people buy time online rather than through an agent. (It seems they could have done this from the start -- send a 2 CUC text message to ETECSA in return for a 1-hour passcode).
- They are working on infrastructure to support this access. They have expanded the capacity of their existing data center and will build two new data centers and augment backbone access to the international undersea cable in 2016. (She did not mention it, but the bulk of Cuba's international traffic shifted from satellite to cable this year, enabling the increase in access).
- There are now 40 thousand doctors who connect from their homes to the Internet via Infomed. They also improved the connectivity of health institutions.
- The Ministry of Justice is putting applications like access to municipal records online.
- Fiber connectivity has been provided at over 25 higher education facilities. By the end of the year, all Cuban universities were connected.
- An interbank network was created and banking applications implemented. There are now 773 ATMs in Cuba, 150 of which were installed this year.
- The Attorney General's office, the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), the Ministry of Agriculture, the National Institute of Water Resources and BioCubaFarma business group have improved fiber connectivity.
- She said they are preparing new service offerings for 2016, but did not say what they were.
Finally, Arevich Marín said that since they must pay for infrastructure and equipment with convertible currency, they need to continue generating revenue through expensive service, foreign recharging, exportable services, international voice and roaming charges and government subsidy.
In a way, this was a typical year-end summary by any CEO -- mentioning achievements for the year past and hinting at some plans for the coming year, while ignoring problems.
Viewed from the perspective of the Internet in a developed nation, I am saddened by how little connectivity Cubans have, but I am more interested in where Cuba will be five or more years from now, so, for me, the key point in this interview was the last one -- citing the need for convertible currency. It is an indication that, at least for now, Cuba has decided to be relatively self-sufficient with respect to the Internet, but can they afford a self-sufficient Internet?
The conventional wisdom is that if Cuba wants to expand the Internet quickly, they should privatize and regulate the Internet in return for foreign investment. For example, Doug Madory has suggested licensing mobile providers, an approach that has led to rapid improvement of the mobile Internet in Myanmar, another "green field" nation. Cuba is seeking foreign investment in industries like mining and oil production, but the Internet is basic domestic infrastructure that might reasonably be kept independent. They should consider alternatives for infrastructure ownership and regulation along with foreign investment.
-----
Update 2/5/2016
ETECSA officials held a press conference yesterday. Here is some of what they said. (My comments are in parenthesis).
At the end of the year there were 3.3 million mobile accounts. (Mobile Internet access is primarily used for personal communication and entertainment, not content creation or productivity applications).
They acknowledge and are working on peak load problems.
Rates have been reduced. (But they remain high enough to create a digital divide within Cuba).
They cautioned that the Old Havana pilot study was only a trial.
There are now agents selling telecommunication cards and recharge coupons (but not satellite access, which US operators are now allowed to provide).
They acknowledged that some of the public access hotspots were in inappropriate locations.
100 cellular base stations will be upgraded from 2G to 3G during the first half of 2016. (How many base stations are there altogether, what percent of the population will have 3G coverage at their homes and offices and why 3G)?
They will establish 80 new public WiFi hotspots this year and offer a variety of handsets for sale. (Is ETECSA the sole vendor for handsets)?
-----
Update 3/31/2016
ETECSA executives held a round-table discussion on Internet services and WiFi hotspots and you can read the transcript here.
A couple of items caught my eye:
- They will be upgrading access points to accommodate both 2.4 and 5 Ghz connections since 82 percent of today's connections are at 2.4 Ghz and today's laptops and tablets can utilize the 5 Ghz band.
- Approximately 200,000 users connect daily at WiFi hotspots -- up from 150,000 reported in December.
- They plan to upgrade 100 radio base stations (RBS) in Havana to 3G mobile. (Note that "RBS" is a term used by Ericsson, not Huawei).
- Details of what will be a very expensive home connectivity project have not been ironed out, but they plan to upgrade equipment to provide a capacity of 1.2 million ADSL land lines. (That is fewer than the goal of nearly 2 million private homes that was stated in a home-connectivity presentation that was leaked last year).
In general, I was struck by their reiteration of commitment to already obsolete equipment like ADSL to homes and 3G mobile. I hope they consider this and the WiFi hotspots stopgap technology and are making plans for leapfrogging today's technology and today's infrastructure ownership and regulation policies.
- Etecsa Will Sell -- And Service -- Huawei Phones.
ETECSA has agreed to sell and service Huawei phones. Since Cuban cell service is 2G, they will be used for voice calls and Internet access at WiFi hotspots and elsewhere. (I have heard that there is a little 3G coverage in Cuba -- is that the case)? Javier...
- Verizon Roaming In Cuba -- Much Ado About Not Much
While Verizon customers may be able to make $2.99 per minute 2G calls, it seems their $2.05 per megabyte data service will be limited to few locations. President Obama is continuing to use executive powers to nibble away at the embargo. Some US companies...
- Cuba Is Using Wifi For Short Run Portable Connectivity
I've been in Scandinavia and Vietnam this year and have not bothered to get a SIM card for my phone -- WiFi was available wherever I went. Let me start with a look at today's Cuban WiFi, then turn to the question of portable and mobile connectivity...
- Cuba Connecting Universities With Fiber
Is this the start of a fiber backbone? Walter Baluja, Director of the Computer Science Department of the Ministry of Higher Education has announced that starting January of 2016 all academic centers in the country will have access to fiber connections....
- Cuba's Wifi Access Plan Raises Intresting Questions.
Do we see the outline of a future national fiber backbone? Luis Manuel Díaz Naranjo, ETECSA Director of Communications, has announced that during the coming weeks, they plan to roll out 35 WiFi access points. As shown here, they will be distributed throughout...