Cuban telecom, Google sign deal to improve island's Internet access

HAVANA, March 29 (Xinhua) -- Cuba's state telecommunications company ETECSA and U.S. Internet giant Google on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the goal of improving the quality of access to the Internet in the island.

The deal signed by ETECSA's vice president of investments, Luis Iglesias, and Google's Cuba chief, Brett Perlmutter, will allow for a better user experience once technical conditions permit it.

"We have expressed the mutual intention of directly interconnecting our networks, without other transits. Together with this intention and the Google cache service, it will permit an efficient use of our international Internet capabilities," said Iglesias.

Perlmutter confirmed to the press "we have formed a working group composed of engineers from ETECSA and Google to investigate and analyze alternatives to put into operation the direct interconnection."

This new step will help in Cuba's drive to improve and spread Internet access all over the country, said a joint statement.

The MoU between both companies was preceded by the signing and implementation of the Google Global Cache service, signed in December 2016 and in operation since April 2017.

"The signing of this memorandum indicates the interest of U.S. companies in reaching business agreements with ETECSA. Currently there are more than a dozen U.S. companies with deals in place, for the benefit of both sides," added the statement.

Google's participation in Cuba dates back to 2014, when Google Chrome, Google Play and Google Analytics products were first launched in the Caribbean nation.

Since 2015, Cuba has advanced in the process of expanding Internet access. In February last year, it approved a comprehensive policy for the expansion of new technologies, which represents the guide for development in this sector.

According to official data, there are 5.4 million cellphone users in Cuba. More than 1.87 million of them have enabled mobile Internet service in the last three months after the service began last December.

Likewise, more than 60,000 families have Internet service in their homes known as Nauta Hogar and Internet access is available over 1,200 public WiFi hotspots.