United States Opens The Door To Telecommunications Services With Cuba

United States Opens The Door To Telecommunications Services With Cuba /
14ymedio
Posted on January 17, 2016

14ymedio, Havana, 17 January 2016 – "By removing Cuba from the Exclusion
list, the Commission opens the door for U.S. telecom carriers to provide
facilities-based telephone and Internet service to Cuba without separate
approval from the Commission," the U.S. Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) reported Friday, through a statement posted on its web
page.

With this measure, United States providers will not need special
authorization to offer services to the island or to build installations
on Cuban territory. The document clarifies that the decision will take
effect immediately upon its publication.

Since 1996, Washington has included Cuba on a telecommunications
exclusion list which required operators interested in offering services
to the island to present a special request. Authorization was a joint
process with the State Department.

"Removing Cuba from the Exclusion List benefits the public interest as
it will likely alleviate administrative and cost burdens on both the
applicant and the Commission, and will promote competition on the
U.S.-Cuba route," said the official statement.

The news has just begun circulating within the island, but comes at a
time of widespread discontent with the management of the State
Telecommunication Company of Cuba SA (ETECSA). Customers of the
telephone monopoly complain about the high prices of services which are
charged in Cuban convertible pesos rather than Cuban pesos, and the
unreliability of services.

In the last trimester, ETECSA's email service, Nauta, has suffered two
interruptions lasting several days each, which has raised the volume of
complaints against the operator. Many look hopefully to the arrival on
the island of a competing company that would force the state monopoly to
reduce rates and improve service.

Last November the U.S. mobile company Sprint reached a direct roaming
agreement with Cuba, the first of its kind in the new relations between
the island and Washington, since the beginning of the thaw in December
2014. However, the agreement has not yet been put into practice.

Source: United States Opens The Door To Telecommunications Services With
Cuba / 14ymedio | Translating Cuba -
http://translatingcuba.com/united-states-opens-the-door-to-telecommunications-services-with-cuba-14ymedio/