Cuba eases restrictions on internet use

The Cuban government has made the internet a little more accessible to citizens in the communist country. There will be more access points and the costs of use will be reduced. Yet the internet remains too expensive for most Cubans.

The government has announced that 118 ‘internet points’ will be added, where citizens can surf the internet on foreign sites for the equivalent of 3.5 euros per hour. That reports the BBC. Until now, 4.60 euros per hour had to be paid to use the worldwide internet. Visiting domestic websites is cheaper: it costs about 45 euro cents per hour. The average salary on the island is 15.50 euros per month.

At the same time, Cuba continues to monitor its citizens’ internet traffic, the government emphasizes. When users behave ‘unethically’ on the Internet, Internet traffic is immediately shut down. Few people have internet access in Cuba, although some citizens can use the internet at work or education. A small proportion of Cubans, such as doctors and journalists, have access to the internet at home. Incidentally, hotels for tourists often offer internet at much lower prices.

Until the beginning of this year, Cuba relied on slow satellite connections for traffic to the rest of the world, but now the island has a fiber optic connection with ally Venezuela.