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communication bypass...
Cuba has welcomed the arrival of an undersea fibre-optic cable linking it to Venezuela as a blow to the US economic embargo.
The cable will transform communications in Cuba, which has among the slowest internet speeds in the world.
The new connection will make download speeds 3,000 times faster - at least for the small minority of Cubans who have internet access.
It should also make international phone calls much cheaper.
The 1,600km (1,000 mile) cable from Venezuela was financed by the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (Alba) - a left-wing regional grouping founded by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Cuban Information and Communications Minister Medardo Diaz said it "reinforced Cuba's sovereignty" and "opened a breach" in the US economic blockade.
The cable would "be at the service of our people, as a tool to reinforce its development, integration and sovereignty" when it became operational in July, he added.
Until now, Cuba has relied on internet and international telephone connections via satellite, which is expensive and slow.
Cuba's communist government has always blamed its poor communications links with the outside world on the decades-old US trade embargo, which has prevented the installation of a fibre optic cable to Florida, just 144km away.
- By Gus Leonisky at 12 Feb 2011 - 8:48pm
- Gus Leonisky's blog
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trumpeted as a blow against the U.S...
(Reuters) - A 1,000-mile undersea fiber-optic cable, trumpeted as a blow against the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, has been strung from socialist ally Venezuela to the communist-led island, officials said on Wednesday.
The cable, which will one day improve Cuba's slow-paced Internet, was laid from a ship by the French company Alcatel-Lucent. It came in near the city of Santiago de Cuba in eastern Cuba, where Cuban officials including Vice President Ramiro Valdes awaited.
According to Prensa Latina, Cuban Information and Communications Minister Medardo Diaz said the cable was "a breach" in the longstanding U.S. trade embargo against the island, which Cuba has blamed for not having better Internet service.
He said it would "strengthen national sovereignty in telecommunications."
The cable is a $70 million project financed by the left-wing regional group ALBA which includes Cuba and Venezuela.
It will not be connected until July and Cuban officials have said it will take time to link up the island due to poor infrastructure.
Santiago de Cuba is 540 miles southeast of Havana.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/10/us-cuba-cable-idUSTRE7193DP20110210