HAVANA TIMES – “Is Cuba ready to abandon public phones?” This is how the Inter Press Service (IPS) agency presents a note on Thursday based on data from the latest Statistical Yearbook, which indicates that although there is not cellular coverage for the entire population, there are fewer and fewer public phones. In response to the question, ’14ymedio’ took a tour of Havana in search of these beloved technological dinosaurs. / 14ymedio
At the Carlos III shopping center, a dozen public phones are crowded together. Some work and others don’t, but it’s very rare to see anyone using them. According to the Yearbook published by the National Office of Statistics and Information, in 2022 there were about 57,600 functioning devices throughout the island, compared to the 60,000 that had remained in operation between 2018 and 2021. / 14ymedioDirty and damaged, most of the devices languish hanging from equally dilapidated walls. IPS points out that although this type of phones has also been disappearing in other countries, they are still necessary in Cuba, as internet connectivity is only 87.5%. / 14ymedioBefore the widespread use of cell phones, especially since 2018 when mobile internet became available, public phones were the common way to communicate in a country where very few had landlines, especially in the provinces. / 14ymedioIt is striking on Infanta Street, in Central Havana, to see a device with the colors of the Spanish Telefónica company, probably donated by that country. It is ironic, as the first telephone conversation in our language took place, precisely, in Havana, between Dr. Juan Muset, who was at the fire station on San Ignacio Street, and his wife, at the family home on Amargura Street, in 1877, when the island was still Spanish territory. / 14ymedioAny Cuban adult remembers when public phones took coins and you had to insert at least 20 ‘kilos’ (cents). In some defective machines, the coins were returned due to lack of weight, and the call ended up being free. / 14ymedioOthers will remember the frustration of coins accumulating inside the machine without the operators collecting them, causing the device to malfunction. Prepaid cards solved this problem. / 14ymedioSeeing the empty phones, it is hard to imagine those scenes, common throughout the island, of long lines in front of them. While the user in turn shared joys and sorrows, or exchanged love flirtations, those waiting behind, more than waiting, were desperate, and disputes were not uncommon. / 14ymedioThe blue structures, to protect from rain or noise, are characteristic of public phones located in the Vedado district of Havana. / 14ymedioDuring a long tour of the capital, the only public phone user found by this newspaper was on 12th Street, in Vedado. The woman had to try several devices until she found one that worked. / 14ymedio
