Google has supplied equipment for the studio of Cuban artist Alexis 
Leiva Machado (kown as "Kcho") in barrio Romerillo, in  Havana. The 
facility is reported to have a 70mps link and supports free access for 
about 40 users, although users report spotty actual access. Kcho is well 
connected to the Cuban government and reputedly is paying the $US 900/mo 
access cost, this in a country where the average salary is about 
$20/month, and paid access is $2/hour. This is probably more a symbolic 
effort than a real opening in Cuba for either Cuban access or Google's 
presence. The Cuban phone company roll out of hotspots in community 
locations, and an eventual reduction in access costs are where change 
will take place. The University of Havana wi-fi effort is intended to 
extend (paid) access to the neighborhoods surrounding the multiple UofH 
campuses in Havana. It is hard to tell when cell and internet access 
will be open to competition as in Myanmar, since that is where access 
will explode and costs will fall.

Sam L.

/On 30/03/2016 10:29 AM, Joly MacFie wrote://
/
> /
> /
> /​Yesterday I/
> / browsed  a bunch of YouTube vids of the Stones concert in Havana. 
> Plenty of smartphones in evidence./
> /
> /
> /​j/
> ////
> /
> /
> /On Wed, Mar 30, 2016 at 9:44 AM, William Drake //<[log in to unmask] 
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>>//wrote://
> /
>
>     /FWIW I had lunch with Vint Cerf at Google in DC the other day and
>     he’d just returned from a week in Cuba, where Google’s been
>     invited to play a notable role in broadening out access
>     //http://www.wsj.com/articles/google-and-obama-administration-connect-over-cuba-1458763836//.
>     He said the Cubans actually have some pretty decent technology in
>     place already, much of it Chinese but also some home grown stuff.
>     So they’re playing off companies from different countries against
>     each other for contracts, kind of the new nonaligned movement.//
>     / /
>     //I suspect many US companies expecting to cut deals quickly will
>     disappointed, as there’s growing reports of the government
>     imposing delays and backtracking on agreements as part of an
>     effort to push US businesses into the ‘end the embargo’ camp in US
>     congressional politics.  Not a surprising strategy, hope it
>     works.  US businesses, especially the tech sector, have become an
>     important force in stopping discriminatory state policies, maybe
>     they’ll emerge as the key here as well.//
>     / /
>     //Bill//
>     /
>