| 2010 | 2011 | Increase | |
| Number of computers (thousands) | 724 | 783 | 8% |
| Number of networked computers (thousands) | 434 | 470 | 8% |
| Number of Internet users (thousands) | 1,790 | 2,610 | 46% |
| PCs/1,000 capita | 64 | 70 | 9% |
| Internet users/1,000 capita | 159 | 232 | 46% |
| Number of .cu domains | 2,225 | 2,285 | 3% |
| Mobile telephone subscribers (thousands) | 1,003 | 1,315 | 31% |
| % of population with mobile access | 78 | 78 |
The new figures reveal a lack of investment. There was only a 3% gain in the number of domains registered in the .cu top level domain, indicating that few new enterprises or other organizations created Web sites or other network applications. The fact that no increase was reported in the percent of the population with access to mobile phones indicates little investment in infrastructure.
The most positive figure may be a 31% increase in mobile phone subscribers, but we should bear in mind that Cuba has second generation phones, used for conversation and text messages, not the smart phones that are increasingly used as pocket computers and Internet access devices in developing nations.
I understand that these figures are government supplied and definitions of indicators vary among agencies like ONE and the ITU, but presumably ONE's 2010 and 2011 methodology is the same. I'd welcome discussion of and alternative interpretations of these and other statistics.
Remembering once more the limitations for internet access in Cuba, I recalled something that I think has not been mentioned here before. Many of those internet users reported by ONE, will access Internet either at their workplace or at schools as you said before, but this kind of access is not only slow and highly filtered & surveyed, it also usually limited by a quota in bandwidth that tends to be ridiculously small.
ReplyDeleteFor example, the last time I heard about this a few months ago, a regular university student that is not part of a research team, could have a quota of 50 Mb per months. These amounts vary in each university and even in each faculty, but this is usually the way it works. I remember students disabling images and flash animations in their web browsers in order to save bandwidth, and only loading the images that they actually needed.
Foreign students however do not have this limitation since they are allowed to sign up for a personal dial-up connection with ETECSA, here the limitation will be the high price of this kind of connection.
Professors and students that are part of a research team may have some privileges also in terms of bandwidth at universities. However internet access in primary and secondary schools is rarely available, for students and professors alike.
Muchas Gracias,
ReplyDeleteVery interesting.
Do the regular students or research students and professors get international access?
I wish they would allow selected organizations, like universities and INFOMED, to use the undersea cable -- that would benefit both Cuba and the rest of the world.
I have read that university CS students do work on practical projects as part of their studies. Is that what you mean by being on a research team, or is a research team more advanced?
Can the primary and secondary students get access at the Youth Computer Clubs?
Do the regular students or research students and professors get international access?
ReplyDeleteThat's hard t tell, it varies a lot. Student of IT-related programs do have international access in general, but students from other programs are less lucky.
I have read that university CS students do work on practical projects as part of their studies. Is that what you mean by being on a research team, or is a research team more advanced?
Students may be working in production-projects, which will also give them privileges for internet access, but what I meant with "research teams" is something more advanced, like theoretical computer scince for example (compilers and programming languages, artificial inteligence and machine-learning, bio-informatics, etc).
Something interesting about scientific research is that many times Cuban researchers have to publish their papers with co-authors from foreign universities, as a research made on those foreign universities. Otherwise the papers will be regected because of the US embargo. This is because many research magazines are published in US, speacially CS magazines (ACM, IEEE etc).
The ban on publication is ridiculous. Can a Cuban co-author be listed?
ReplyDeleteYes, but he/she cannot say that he/she is still living and working in Cuba.
DeleteAbout this question: "Can the primary and secondary students get access at the Youth Computer Clubs?"
DeleteSure, those are available for everyone, but as you know it is "intranet access" only (*.cu)
I followed up with IEEE and ACM, and it looks like Cuban authors are now treated the same as any others:
Deletehttp://laredcubana.blogspot.com/2012/08/cuban-computer-scientists-can-publish.html