The Hemingway movie was shot before the December 2014 US-Cuba rapprochement began and more productions will probably use Cuba as a location. Cuban production will continue as long as the government makes it attractive, but, to me, that is less interesting than the prospect of Cubans producing entertainment and educational content for Spanish-speaking audiences.
If I were running the show at Netflix, Google, Amazon, Hulu or "Hollywood" in general, I would be thinking about setting up a production center in Cuba. Cinema and other arts are alive and vibrant in Cuba and there are tons of overeducated, underemployed creative professionals.
Take Google for example. They currently have YouTube production spaces in Los Angeles, London, Tokyo, New York, São Paulo, Berlin, Paris, Mumbai and Toronto. Will the next one be in Havana?
Or how about Netflix? Netflix was among the first US companies to "open" to Cuba, but since there is virtually no Internet infrastructure capable of streaming their content, we have to wonder what that means. Cubans do not stream Netflix productions, but they do watch pirated versions thanks to El Paquete Semanal. Someday, they might see Cuban royalty revenue from a legitimatized Paquete Semanal or, in the far future, streaming, but, with the approval of the Cuban government, they could be producing content in Cuba today.
Crowds watch shooting of Fast and Furious
Shot in Cuba and now showing in the US
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Update 5/14/2016
I've been speculating about the opportunity Netflix (and others) have for creating Spanish language video content in Cuba. Netflix was one of the first US companies to offer service (that no one could afford or access) in Cuba and they held an executive off-site meeting in Havana last month.
Well, here is some related speculation.
Dave Temkin, Netflix VP of Network Strategy and Architecture, posted an upbeat article on Cuba after their off-site meeting and returned for the LACNIC conference last week in Havana. Might Netflix (or Google) be thinking of building a data center in Cuba?
A legitimatized "Paquete Semanal, S. A." could distribute Netflix content in Cuba today.
To the extent that we are allowed to see it, Cuba's plan for the Internet focuses on connectivity in homes and public places and support of areas that are considered socially important like education and health care. Even if Cuba is patient and leapfrogs current technology, a large investment will be required in service of those goals.
The infrastructure investment needed to support digital entertainment is beyond Cuba's means, but, necessity being the mother of invention, Cuba has outsourced digital entertainment to El Paquete Semanal. The organization supporting El Paquete has grown organically and efficiently distributes content in a timely manner. There is demand for their product and El Paquete may be Cuba's largest private employer.
Ironically, El Paquete must also suffer from piracy by end users. I don't know if they worry about that today or just tolerate it and rely on fresh weekly material for their revenue. Regardless, if prices rise after the removal of the wholesale piracy subsidy, there would be a greater incentive for end-user piracy.
Normalization of relations between the US and Cuba will eventually require elimination of the piracy subsidy that makes El Paquete viable. When the negotiations on digital piracy take place, Cuba should consider the strategic role El Paquete plays and find a settlement that allows it to remain a part of the Cuban digital infrastructure.
(There might even be competing "paquetes semanales" -- with the government acting as a wholesaler that negotiates deals with content owners).
Netflix entered the Cuban market shortly after December 17, but that seemed to be a symbolic step, with no prospect of profit. It will be many years before Cuba is able to support the streaming of Netflix content, but a legitimatized "Paquete Semanal, S. A." could distribute Netflix content in Cuba today.
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Update 1/7/2016
In this post, I have focused on content distribution, but the Cuban film and creative communities could be a source of Spanish language content for Netflix and others to distribute in other nations, including the US. I had suggested earlier that Cuba could be a source of content for Google and it's been reported that Cuba is being considered as a location for "Fast and Furious 8" -- might we see Google, Amazon, Netflix and other production centers in Cuba one day?
A Google delegation, led by Scott Carpenter, Deputy Director of Google Ideas, and Brett Perlmutter, who had accompanied Eric Schmidt on his Cuban visit earlier this year, is in Cuba. They have visited two important technical universities and some of the Cuban Youth Computer Clubs.
At the University of Information Science, the Google representatives were asked about access to their developer's Web site. Evidently Google is required to block access to that site because the State Department lists Cuba as a sponsor of terrorism and the site contains encryption software. Hopefully Google will be able to open that site to Cuban programmers when the terrorist designation is reversed.
Students also asked whether games they had developed could be marketed through the Google Play store, and were told that was not possible at this time.
There may be some problem with allowing Cubans to sell software through Google Play that I am not aware of, but, if that is not the case, this would seem like a quick, simple thing for Google to do. (I'll add it to my earlier posts on things Google might do in Cuba and things the Cuban government might do).
Netflix moved quickly to offer their service for sale in Cuba, and it seems that Google has an opportunity to kick off commerce in the other direction. While there is little chance of Netflix doing much business in Cuba at this time, Cuban Spanish language apps -- games or more serious things like medical or educational applications -- might sell well in the Play store.
Of course, the same applies to Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and any other company selling apps online.
Commercially, Cuba is small potatoes to Google -- a mere 11 million potential users. But what of potential creators? Google is recruiting in another small nation, Israel -- will they be recruiting in Cuba some day?
The other day, a journalist who was writing an article on Cuba contacted me to ask what Google might do there in the short run. I referred him to an earlier post in which I had listed some short term steps, but I will add some speculation on production and hosting of domestic content and infrastructure here.
YouTube has video production spaces in Los Angeles, London, Tokyo, New York, São Paulo, Berlin, Paris, Mumbai, and Toronto -- how about opening one in Havana?
I won't be surprised if I see Cuban content turning up on Netflix in the near future -- along with Cuban film and animation on YouTube.
Of course, Cuba is a largely untapped source of content beside cinematic video. For example, in an earlier post, I suggested that a free, well connected Cuba could be a rich source of online education and medical information.
Google has built a MOOC platform and offered MOOCS. In 2013, they announced a partnership called mooc.org with edX that promised an open platform for hosting courses, but, over a year later, the mooc.org Web site is unchanged. However, they have been contributors to open edX, the open source edX platform. Could Google host an open edX service for Spanish language courses developed by Cubans (and others)?
The same applies to medical information. Cuba has focused on medical research, training and practice since the time of the revolution and Infomed, their medical network, predates their connection to the Internet. Could Google provide hosting services or high speed connectivity to Infomed and Cuban universities or to Cuba's Latin American Medical School for remote training and course development?
On a recent trip to Cuba, Google executives told students at the University of Information Science that they could not sell applications they had developed in the Google Play store at this time.
There may be some problem with allowing Cubans to sell software through Google Play that I am not aware of, but, if that is not the case, this would seem like a quick, simple thing for Google to do -- it would create a relationship between them and Cuban software developers.
Infrastructure
That is fine for Cuban-produced content for export, but what about domestic consumption? The Cuban economy and infrastructure can not support video distribution today -- might Google contribute to Cuban infrastructure?
Google has data centers in many cities around the world, but it is hard to imagine them building one in today's Cuba, which has little power and very few Internet users. However, for the short term, they could invest to improve ETECSA's data center.
Could they help with Cuban backbone infrastructure? Satellite and terrestrial wireless might be used for interim connectivity in rural areas, but what about Havana? Could Havana become a Google Fiber city? Even if ETECSA were to allow it, it is hard to see Google becoming a retail ISP in Havana, but might they provide wholesale backbone infrastructure as they have with Project Link in Kampala, Uganda where they have installed over 800km of fiber.
Kampala is a smaller, more densely populated city than Havana, but the GDP per capita in Cuba is ten times that of Uganda and only about 5% of the Ugandan population lives in Kampala while around 20% of Cubans are in Havana. Considering these rough figures plus Havana's advantages in health and education, Havana seems as good a place to invest as Kampala.
Havana's demographics look good, but there is one large problem -- a lack of competition. In Kampala, Google is a wholesale service provider not a retail competitor. The Internet Society lists 13 retail ISPs in Uganda, while Cuba has one, ETECSA. If Cuba is unwilling to forego ETECSA's monopoly in the retail ISP market, neither Google nor anyone else will make the sorts of investments needed to build a modern Internet.
Early this month, a US delegation headed by Deputy Assistant Secretary of State and U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy Daniel Sepulveda, will travel to Havana to work on greater Internet connectivity "to better support access to information for the Cuban people." While the ultimate goal is to better support the Cuban people (customers), the delegation will focus on finding out how and when the Cuban government/ETECSA wants to engage US companies interested in selling them equipment and services.
Charles Rivkin, assistant secretary of state says they have received comments from many US companies and the delegation's goal is to "see what is possible from the point of view of Cuba."
Josefina Vidal, who has been leading Cuban discussions with the US said they welcome US telecommunications companies to explore business opportunities, but there a lot questions. As I said in an earlier post, the ball is now in Cuba's court. Perhaps this delegation will learn what they plan to do with it.
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Update 3/8/2015
Last week, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Google Senior Vice President Sundar Pichai said they would be expanding Project Link, installing fiber backbones "many more" African cities this year.
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Update 3/16/2015
While Google has a vested interest in increasing the number of Internet users world wide, Cuba is not an easy place to do business -- The Heritage Foundation ranks their economy as one of the least free in the world, but they are taking steps to improve the business climate.
In March, 2014 the Cuban government formally acknowledged the importance of foreign investment to their economy and revised foreign investment regulations. Foreign investment is authorized in "all sectors except those dealing with the health and education of the population and the armed forces institutions, with the exception of their business systems."
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Update 5/19/2015
Cuba recently announced a plan to bring Internet connectivity to all schools at all levels within three years and I made several suggestions for doing so in an earlier post. (I am full of free advice for the government of Cuba :-). Google could contribute to this effort in several ways. One would be in helping with a backbone network to connect the schools. I also suggested that the Cubans take a decentralized approach to building LANs at the schools, and Google could help with that effort -- perhaps using the hi-frequency wireless equipment they have been testing. Finally, the Cubans are talking about tablets for students -- Chromebooks would be better. The One Laptop per Child project has distributed laptops to over 2.4 million children -- how about One Chromebook per Child in Cuba?
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Update 6/24/2015
Last week, representatives of companies in the food and beverage, infrastructure, vehicles, insurance and international corporate law sectors visited Cuba and met with government officials, private entrepreneurs, cooperatives, journalists, economists, artists and members of the diplomatic community.
Two of the visitors, Brett Perlmutter of Google Ideas and Brehanna Zwart of Google Access and Energy, were from Google, and they reportedly came with a proposal. I don't know what they proposed, but they indicated that it was for mobile infrastructure. I've been speculating about things Google might do in Cuba -- why stop now?
Brett Perlmutter and Brehanna Zwart at OnCuba Magazine
Google has experience with fiber installation, both in Google fiber cities in the US and in Kampala Uganda where they have installed a wholesale fiber ring. Might they do the same in Havana or elsewhere? Google's fiber could be used for mobile backhaul. (Cuba is already rolling out WiFi hot spots).
But what about linking that to the Internet? It will be some time before there is a fiber path between Havana and the undersea cable at the east end of the island, but they could use O3b Network's high speed satellites. (Some time ago, I suggested that ETECSA use home satellites to reach rural areas).
This is total speculation -- I have no idea what Google proposed or what ETECSA is willing to allow, but it is fun to speculate. Going further into the future, how about Google Fiber in Havana? And, when will we see those Google baloons over Cuba?
Google Fiber cities -- Havana someday?
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Update 6/7/2018
YouTube has video production spaces in Los Angeles, London, Tokyo, New York, São Paulo, Berlin, Paris, Mumbai, and Toronto -- how about opening one in Havana?
As I mentioned above, Cuba is well positioned to produce Spanish-language entertainment and education content and I suggested that Google open a YouTube production space in Havana.
The idea of opening a production space in Havana makes even more sense today than it did in 2015.
Google Global Cache (GGC) servers are now installed and operating on the Island. That means Google content can be viewed and uploaded faster than in 2015 and the result is that YouTube has made substantial gains since GCC went online last April:
There is also a growing, enthusiastic community of young Cuban YouTubers, several of whom are profiled in this YucaByte article and you can "meet" a few others in this short (5:36) video from Periodismo de Barrio:
(The YucaByte article also contains a short video sampler showing enthusiastic YouTubers).
Not exactly being a millennial myself, I am not likely to become a follower of these youthful YouTubers, but they are inheritors of a rich history of Cuban music, cinema and education.
Google executives and Senator Jeff Flake just met with Cuban president Diaz-Canel and former Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt who said “We already have an agreement signed that allows easier access to data. We would like to do more.”
How about opening a YouTube video production space in Havana?
Netflix has joined Google as one of the first US companies to offer an Internet service in Cuba, but few Cubans can afford the $7.99 monthly Netflix subscription and home access is nearly all over dial up connections. DSL bandwidth at public access points, hotels and some work places can only support low quality Netflix streams and Cuba's second generation cell network will not support mobile viewing.
Forgetting access, how about Copyright? Netflix cannot afford to violate copyright deals with its suppliers and in Cuba they have to compete with Cuba's weekly pirate distributions of movies, TV episodes, magazine, software, Web sites, etc. and similar material delivered over local WiFi networks.
It would be interesting to know what sorts of royalty rates Netflix is paying for the material they plan to stream in Cuba and what content will be available.
Given the economic, copyright and infrastructure constraints, I suspect that, for now, Fidel and Raúl Castro will be the only Netflix customers in Cuba and they will only be able to watch old Cantinflas movies and Netflix productions like House of Cards and Orange is the New Black.
What about YouTube?
Google executives recently visited Cuba -- did they talk about YouTube? I imagine a much higher percent of YouTube content can legally be distributed in Cuba than is the case for Netflix, but the vast collection of YouTube video would cause problems for Cuban censors. Which Cubans would be allowed to access YouTube?
Google does not block YouTube, so it is available to the few people with an international Internet connection, but I have not been able to find anyone who has seen YouTube in Cuba. It is not available in Universities, and, even if it were, student bandwidth caps would limit or eliminate viewing. Does anyone reading this in Cuba have access to YouTube video?
(I am guessing that Netflix video is streamed from inside Cuba, perhaps from this ETECSA data center, but YouTube is not).
I joked about the Castro brothers being the only Netflix customers in Cuba, but hotels and other senior government officials probably also have access. While that is not enough to justify going into Cuba, Netflix had gotten valuable publicity and demonstrated that they are a global company.
Finally, everyone is focusing on Netflix, YouTube and other companies selling goods and services to Cuba. My focus is on the goods and services Cuba can sell to the US and the rest of the world. (We took a giant step in that direction with the announcement that many types of "goods and services produced by independent Cuban entrepreneurs" could now be imported into the United States).
How long will it be before there are Cuban channels on YouTube and Netflix is commissioning videos made by Cubans? Maybe Google should open their next YouTube production center in Havana.
*Note -- I revised this post after communicating with people in Cuba and at Google and Netflix.
Twenty years ago, while working on a study of the Internet in India, I had a chance to meet Professor M.S. Swaminathan, at his research foundation in Chennai. Our research framework included several facets of the Internet in a nation, including its use in commerce, education, government and health care. Professor Swaminathan pointed out that we were completely overlooking what would be the most important application, entertainment.
This was long before selfies, YouTube, Angry Birds or Netflix existed -- he was on to something that we "serious" academics could not see.
Observers of the Cuban Internet have a tendency to focus on serious applications like political dissent, health care and education, but we should heed Professor Swaminathan's admonition.
I've noted that wired and wireless local area networks are springing up around Cuba, and, evidently the government is trying to crack down on them. But, most people are using these networks for entertainment -- games, posting selfies, watching video, listening to music, etc., not politics.
Cuban entertainment is also found on the Internet. For example, Silvio Rodriguez, singing a traditional song, Ojala, has over 17.5 million hits on YouTube:
and recent song, Ojos Color Sol, sung with the Puerto Rican hip hop duo Calle 13 has had close to 5 million hits.
