Off the wire
Feature: Greece culminates tug of war with Germany over WWII compensations  • Austrian agricultural exports to Russia drop 52 mln USD in 2014  • Germany's benchmark DAX index advances  • 1.04 mln Albanians got employed in Q4 2014  • Foreign exchange rate of euro to other currencies  • Libyan parties committed to safeguarding national unity in dialogue  • Roundup: Canadian stock market rebounds on energy, industrials rally  • European Parliament members backs structural reforms to boost economy  • UN Peacebuilding Commission elects Swedish representative as new chair  • IMF approves new loan for Ukraine  
You are here:   Home

U.S.-Cuba restore direct phone communications

Xinhua, March 12, 2015 Adjust font size:

Cuba and the United Stated have restored direct telephone communications that were most recently cut off in 1999, the state-run Telecommunications Company of Cuba S.A.(Etecsa) announced Wednesday.

The company said it reestablished direct interconnection between the two countries, initially for international calls, as a result of an agreement between the firm and U.S. service provider Domestic Telecom, Inc. (IDT).

"Restoring direct (telephone) communications between the U.S. and Cuba helps improve the installations and quality of the communication between the peoples of the two nations," Etecsa said in a press release.

Due to the U.S. trade embargo, phone calls between the two countries had to be routed through third countries, making it more expensive and affecting quality.

The contract between Etecsa and Newark, New Jersey-based IDT was first reported on Feb. 20. The contract marks the first accord signed by companies from both nations since Washington and Havana announced in December they planned to restore diplomatic ties after more than half a century.

As part of the rapprochement, the U.S. has relaxed some restrictions on doing business with Cuba, especially allowing U.S. telecom firms to sell their services to Cuba.

Almost 2 million Cuban expatriates and their descendants live in the United States. Endite