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Cuba to boost Internet access with more Wi-Fi hotspots, lower price

Xinhua, September 19, 2015 Adjust font size:

Cuban authorities will be installing new Wi-Fi hotspots across the island before the end of the year, the national Cuban Telecommunications Company (Etecsa) announced Friday.

Furthermore, Cubans will now access the Internet at a much reduced price at these new hotspots with a one-hour connection fixed at 2 CUC (2 U.S. dollars), down from the previous 4.5 CUC.

Mayra Arevich, Etecsa's executive president, announced that the new public Wi-Fi zones would be set up in "suitable spots" and in places "where users can sit down without worrying about the weather," according to the official daily Granma.

At the beginning of September, Etecsa already opened 35 Wi-Fi connections in public spaces in 15 of the country's provinces. Currently, official data states that 55,000 connections happen daily from these hotspots, with as many as 8,000 taking place at the same time.

According to Cuba's National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI), Cuba had three million users with Internet access in 2014.

However, the island still restricts private Internet connections inside homes to professionals, such as doctors, journalists, academics and artists. Others can use one of around 150 Internet cafes on the island. Endi