Cuba’s state telecommunications monopoly has just made a historic announcement.
MIAMI, United States. – The Cuban Telecommunications Company (ETECSA) announced this December 28 a “historic transformation” of the mobile internet service on the Island: rates “on par with Latin America”, stable 24-hour connection and a long-awaited novelty for users, the non-existence of internet blackouts, even in complex scenarios such as protestssocial tensions or unforeseen events of the national reality.
However, the company did not clarify what changed in the infrastructure, the electrical system or the network management policy.
In 2025, ETECSA implemented changes in the commercialization of the mobile service that limited national recharges to the main balance “until reaching the total amount of 360 CUP over the course of 30 days”, according to the company itself when announcing the measures that came into force on May 30. The decision caused widespread social unrest and revived the debate about the real cost of Internet access in a context of inflation, partial dollarization of services and a fall in purchasing power.
The discontent transcended national borders. In June, the agency Reuters reported criticism of the fee increase and subsequent adjustments announced by the Government, including specific plans for students, following a wave of negative reactions questioning the fairness of the pricing scheme. The same media had reported weeks before on large-scale cellular service interruptions, linked to the energy crisis affecting the country.
ETECSA and sector authorities have publicly recognized that electrical blackouts have a direct impact on telecommunications. In an intervention broadcast by Radio Rebelde At the end of May, the magnitude of the problem was admitted: “We have, for example, more than 24,000 interruptions today of interrupted services in the country, of interrupted landlines.”
The dependence on energy backup and the limited autonomy of the equipment mean that, when the blackout is prolonged, connectivity disappears.
In December, new disruptions to the service were again attributed to the instability of the electrical system, according to press reports that included explanations from ETECSA about technical limits and accumulated failures in certain areas. The fictitious promise of an internet immune to blackouts purposely ignores that structural reality.
Furthermore, in its statement ETECSA specified that there will be no “internet blackouts” even in contexts of protests or social tensions. The recent experience of Cubans, documented by international media and digital rights organizations at different times, has shown that access to the network can be affected in politically sensitive scenarios.
Until today, in Cuba the problem with the internet was not only how much it cost, but also its speed and the censorship conditions for its use.
That’s an April Fool’s Day joke.
