Facebook wants to be one to bring the Internet to Cuba

Facebook wants to be one to bring the Internet to Cuba
Mark Zuckerberg says Facebook has a "responsibility" to give the whole
word access
April 10, 2015
Short URL: http://vator.tv/n/3d21

In recent months, since relations with Cuba have begun to soften, we've
seen a slew of tech companies open their doors there, or at least
talking about doing so. There is one big problem, though: Internet
access in that country is pretty poor at the moment.

Take a guess who wants to be the one to fix that problem.

Speaking to Fusion while in Panama City for CEO conference on Thursday,
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressed his desire to be the one to bring
Cuba into this century when it comes to Internet access.

"Our mission in Facebook is to help connect everyone in the world," he
said, citing the company's "responsibility to not just to help people
connect through the software we build, but also help people get onto the
Internet so they can use all the different services that the Internet
can bring."

That responsibility, said Zuckerberg, is taken very seriously.

"So that means that in the fullness of time, we are going to want to be
able to connect people across every country in the world. Now there are
some countries that don't have open economic policies today, where it's
not possible for us to operate. But one day, as Cuba starts opening up,
it will be something that we might consider at that time — that
definitely fits within our mission."

The most obvious way for Facebook to connect Cuba to the Web is through
its Internet.org project, which it launched in the Summer of 2013.
Through the projectm Internet access has already increased in parts of
Africa, India, Colombia and Guatemala.

How bad is access in the country? The country has a population of 11.3
million people; of those, only around 25%, or around 2.8 million, had
Internet access in 2012, according to data from the World Bank.

Other data pegs the number even lower. According to a Bendixen & Amandi
Poll for Univision Noticias and Fusion, published in collaboration with
The Washington Post this week, the number is only16 percent of Cubans.
Of those who do have, less than half, 40 percent, say that they use
social media. Basically, Facebook has its work cut out for it when it
comes to Cuba.

That has not stopped other technology companies from already laying the
groundwork for a launch in Cuba, though..

In early February Netflix announced that it has expanded to Cuba,
offering it service for $7.99 to those in the country who have access to
Internet connections and access to international payment methods.

Cuban citizens were given access to "a curated selection of popular
movies and TV shows," including Netflix original series like House of
Cards, Orange is the New Black and Marco Polo, as well as kids
programming like All Hail King Julien, The Adventures of Puss in Boots
and original documentaries including Virunga and The Square.

Then, in March, it was reported that Amazon had begun laying the
groundwork for eventually being able to ship packaged to Cuba, though
given the trade embargo that still exists between the two countries, it
seems more that Amazon is getting ready for a future where the United
States and Cuba eventually lift that ban.

The latest to launch there was Airbnb in March, listing over 1,000
private homes, in Havana, Matanzas, Cienfuegos, and Santa Clara.

If Facebook can succeed in really getting Cuba online, I imagine many
more companies will begin to take advantage of this previously untapped
market.

VatorNews has reached out to Facebook for further comment. We will
update this story if we learn more.

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