Twitter wants a way into Cuba

Twitter wants a way into Cuba
The company has talked with the Cuban government about letting its
citizens tweet through cheap and easy text messaging.
By NANCY SCOLA 6/17/15 5:13 AM EDT

Twitter says it's talked with the Cuban government about expanding
access to its service, the latest sign of U.S. tech companies exploring
digital possibilities on the island after President Barack Obama's
announcement of a historic thaw in relations.

While the tech conversation around Cuba has thus far been about building
the basic network infrastructure the country lacks, Twitter says it has
a simple, short-term ask: Let Cubans tweet by text message.

Cuba lacks the sort of four- or five-digit number shortcut that allows
users to tweet via SMS, often quite cheaply and even from rudimentary
cellphones. (In much of the world, that short code is "40404," but it
varies; Mexico's short code is, for example, "6464.")

Twitter says its director of global public policy, Colin Crowell, has
met with officials from the Cuban Interests Section in Washington — the
country's current diplomatic outpost in the U.S. — to discuss the issue.

"We don't have a short code deal with Cuba, and it's one of the few
places in the world where we don't," says Crowell. "We've broached our
desire with Cuban officials and they're open to it, but we haven't made
a trip down there to effectuate that deal.

"We'll follow in short order when everyone catches their breath," he
adds. "We'd love to get a deal sooner rather than later."

At least one major U.S. tech company has expressed interest in helping
to do a major upgrade of Cuba's communications infrastructure. A
representative from Google is in Havana this week, focused on "helping
the Cuban government think through their publicly stated goal of
improving Internet access," according to a company spokesperson.

Twitter could be a way for Cubans to share information among themselves
and with the outside world, a sea change in a country that Reporters
Without Borders ranks among the world's worst when it comes to freedom
of the press.

While many of the world's users now tweet using the Twitter.com website
or Internet-based apps, the lack of online options in Cuba — only about
5 percent of the population has Internet access — makes that difficult
for many. But Twitter started out as a text message-based service and
can still operate as one, points out Crowell.

The Cuban government owns ETECSA, the telecom that runs Cubacel, the
island's mobile network, and that would be responsible for setting up
the desired short codes.

It was April's Summit of the Americas in particular, attended by both
Obama and Cuban leader Raúl Castro, that demonstrated the potential
power of increased Twitter access in Cuba, says Crowell. The company saw
that Cuba-related tweets were commented on and retweeted remarkably
widely and often.

"The interest is quite pronounced in the [Cuban] diaspora, and in the
hemisphere generally," says Crowell. "We're eager to do whatever we can
to augment the ability of Cubans to make their voices heard. We'd love
to have more Cuban voices on our platform."

Source: Twitter wants a way into Cuba - Nancy Scola - POLITICO -
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/twitter-cuba-social-media-119086.html