Waiting Desperately in Cuba

Nonardo Perea

HAVANA TIMES — Many are the questions being asked by people with whom I’ve had the opportunity to converse about the issue of telecommunications in Cuba.

Most are wondering whether all citizens will be able to have a landline at home in the not-so-distant future, and whether we will have unrestricted and cheap Internet access any time soon, so as to find out what Google, Facebook, Instagram and other sites that now seem out of this world are all about.

The truth of the matter is that, as things are discussed, time passes and changes come so slowly that many are becoming desperate. It’s also true that all things require time and it would be impossible to make these services available overnight, with a snap of the fingers – in addition to time, a whole lot of money is also needed.

Personally, I believe this will be achieved gradually with the aid of our former (and I stress “former”) enemy and of glorious China.

On a news program, I recently heard that mobile phones and tablets would start to be assembled in the country. I hope these are made available to the people and that prices are affordable. The tablets I’ve seen at our stores cost 150 Cuban Convertible Pesos (CUC) and offer a lousy 1 Gb storage capacity.

I don’t have a phone right now, and I certainly can’t afford to buy one priced at 500 or 600 CUC, so I’ve declared a cell-phone strike until prices go down.

I hope to god it happens soon, for communication is important, don’t you think?