When the undersea cable is lit, Cuban connectivity to the outside world will improve dramatically, but we know nothing about plans for complementary improvements in the domestic infrastructure -- equipment or people -- needed to take advantage of the added external capacity.
In a
comment on an earlier post asking about such plans, "Muchas Gracias" points us to a November 2003
presentation on Cuban telecommunications by the executive president of ETECSA, José Antonio Fernández Martínez.
The presentation reviews ETECSA investment, telephony, and the Internet. For me, the highlight of the presentation were two slides showing the fiber and microwave backbones. These are eight years old, and, except for Havana, say nothing about local fiber, but they are the best we have at present.
This is an outstanding find--certainly the only terrestrial fiber maps I've seen--old though they may be. (Old, but are they outdated? I wonder...) Did you ever see the CD&A Environmental Impact Assessment report prepared for Alcatel-Lucent? It's the only significant technical resource I could find: http://www.nepa.gov.jm/eias/StAnn/Golden%20Sands%20Beach%20Cottages/FINAL_EIA_REPORT_ASN_NOV._10_10.pdf
ReplyDeleteOK, Larry. I decided to look at your blog in more detail. I wonder if you get any sense of disconnect between the message you posted to your imagined "Cuban state security agent" and the snarky jabs at Cuba's telecom policies I see on every other post (even though most of the jabs are off-the-mark).
ReplyDeleteAs an example of off-the-mark jabs, you write here that "we know nothing about ... improvements in the domestic infrastructure". Who is "we"? :) People who are interested and involved in Cuba's digital inclusion initiative (launched jointly with the Brazilian government) know lots about the expansions in domestic infrastructure for Cuba.
How can you have just finished a study on Cuba's networks and *not* know what's going on with them? Here's an insider tip.. here's a website with all the latest goings-on in the socialist technology scene -> http://mediolibre.tumblr.com/