The Cuban Telecommunications Company (Etecsa) alerted Cubans in the last few hours to several publications circulating on networks about raffles and prizes that the company would offer to its users.
“It is common for raffles and prizes to appear on social networks during holidays to deceive people,” he warned in a short message on his Facebook account, after asking customers not to open “links that put your personal data at risk.”
Last May, Etecsa also drew attention to scams associated with international recharges that many Cubans expect month after month on and off the island. Then, he indicated that this service was being “cloned” by a “growing number of fraudulent websites,” according to what he said. a report from the diary Rebel Youth.
The only entity with the legal capacity to offer mobile telephone service on the island recognized that this phenomenon “causes serious effects” on the company, although it assured that it also affects “the users of this service.”
“During the last few years, fraudulent websites have proliferated that, in most cases, clone Etecsa identifications and messages. These offer attractive international recharge options using national packages,” Arelys González Fernández, the company’s central director of Institutional Relations, explained to the media.
Finally, Nauta Hogar will be able to accumulate unused hours
One year after Prime Minister Manuel Marrero will announce it before Parliament already six months of great rate, Finally, Etecsa launched today the new postpaid modality of the Nauta Hogar service, which will allow residential customers to “accumulate unconsumed browsing time” at the end of each month.
The option, which Etecsa claims to implement in response to “repeated demands from the population,” comes at the end of a rather controversial year for the company, which applied a package of measures last May for mobile data and caused protests and claims from various universities in the country.
It is voluntary and aims to “offer greater flexibility to users” and better use of contracted hours, especially in homes affected by the current energy crisistravel or other dynamics that limit the regular use of the service.
Quoted by Cubadebatethe commercial vice president of the entity, Lidia Esther Hidalgo Rodríguez, explained that currently around 35% of clients are unable to consume all of the hours included in their monthly plan.
Prepaid mode is maintained, postpaid is optional
Given this scenario, Etecsa will maintain the current prepayment modality —the client has to recharge once the contracted hours have been consumed— and adds the postpaid alternative, which allows browse during the month and pay later by invoice.
One of the main changes, details the specialist, is the possibility of accumulating unused time up to a maximum of 1080 hours. In the postpaid scheme, the monthly invoice will reflect the detailed consumption, including the usual fee, the additional hours used above the contracted plan and the accumulated hours not enjoyed.
If the client exceeds their monthly package, they will be able to continue browsing at a cost of 12.50 CUP per hour, the directive adds.
The company indicates that the change of modality can only be carried out in person at the local commercial office.
Likewise, it points out that users will be able to check their consumption in real time through the portal www.nauta.cu, while the invoice will be available from the 10th of each month and can be paid through the Transfermóvil application, Online Services or in the offices themselves.
Nauta Hogar, active since December 2016, works on ADSL technology and offers various speeds associated with packages of 30, 40, 60 or 120 hours per month.
According to CubadebateAlthough demand continues to increase, with more than 90 thousand requests registered in the last year, the company recognizes “technical and financial limitations” that affect the expansion of the service, which currently reaches about 305 thousand homes.
More options six months from the price
At the beginning of November, Etecsa incorporated new calling and messaging packages that are purchased separately through Transfermóvil, “without subtracting from the main balance” of users.
Now the clients can buy packages recurring 80 minutes for 480 CUP or 120 minutes for 690 CUP, as well as 200 SMS for 90 CUP using a bank card or the MiTransfer wallet. These services are now available throughout the country through the Transfermóvil application.
Etecsa launches new calling and messaging packages “without affecting the mobile balance”
The initiative, which seeks to “provide accessible alternatives that preserve the conventional balance,” appears four months after widespread unrest over the unpopular “but inevitable” measures that were announced on May 30.
Then, the state monopoly reported a modification in its offers that limits the national recharges that its clients can make to 360 pesos (CUP) for a month. That amount would only serve, in practice, to purchase plans up to 6 GB of mobile data, combined with minutes and SMS.
Above that amount, Etecsa sells “extra” offers both in CUP and in dollars (USD), although at much higher prices: in the case of “extras” in pesos, they range from 3,360 CUP for 3 GB (a scale that multiplies the previous price by more than 10) to 11,760 CUP for 15 GB. Meanwhile, offers in dollars range from 10 USD for 4 GB to 35 USD for 16 GB.
These measures made the University Student Federation (FEU) of six faculties of the University of Havana will express the next day his “dissatisfaction” with the way the new mobile data rates were implemented. Later, other faculties from all over the country joined the claim.
In mid-June, and in response to widespread dissatisfaction, Etecsa announced two new mobile data plans. The first, called “Additional”, allows you to purchase 2 gigabytes (GB) for 1,200 pesos, while the second, a “Sector Plan”, offers an additional 6 GB for university students.
