Venezuela-Cuba cable to be laid in early 2011

[Judi Lynn]

Venezuela-Cuba cable to be laid in early 2011
By IAN JAMES

Work to lay an undersea fiber optic cable that will dramatically improve telecommunications in Cuba should begin by February, Cuba's ambassador to Venezuela said Friday.

Ambassador Rogelio Polanco said the line should start working in mid-2011 -- about two years after initial projections.

Venezuela's government has an agreement with Paris-based Alcatel-Lucent SA to produce and install the fiber optic line, a project first announced in 2007.

Cuba is the only nation in the Western Hemisphere that is not linked to the outside world by fiber optics. Instead, it relies on slow, expensive satellite links because the U.S. government's embargo has prevented most trade between the island and the United States and has made companies in other countries shy away from doing business with Cuba.

More:
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9J0URMG0.htm

[flamingdem]

1. I thought this was already underway, remember the doomed

project to lay a cable from Florida? It was about ten years ago but blocked by the US government. Then of course we have the anti_Cubists talking about lack of access to the internet... when it's all satellite and limited.

[Billy Burnett]

2. And expensive.

As I pointed out in the LBN thread, not only does the USA restrict Cuban internet access, but has extensive sanctions designed to cripple the Cuban economy that results in most Cubans not being able to afford internet.

This sickness is a variation of Münchausen syndrome by proxy.