900USD/mo for 70mb seem to be a dream that some parts of Africa would be
glad to wake up to in reality ;-)

Cheers!

Sent from my LG G4
Kindly excuse brevity and typos
On 30 Mar 2016 18:00, "Sam Lanfranco" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> 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]
> <[log in to unmask]> <[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
>> <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*
>>
>
>