The Telecommunications Company of Cuba-Etecsa-, created in 1994, has contributed to the development of the communications sector in our country with a technological expansion, accompanied by challenges that reflect the complexities of the social and economic context of the island.
The significant impact of Etecsa, thanks to investments in connectivity and telephony services in the country, has had a consolidation in Contramaestre, where the digital ecosystem is a reality with strengths and resilience.
According to Gabriel Tamayo Tamayo, head of the Contramaestre Main Telecommunications Center, “over the years the Company has made significant progress in the way Cubans communicate and access the Internet, from the introduction of fixed telephony service that allowed homes and businesses to connect, to the expansion of mobile telephony in 2000.
Since that year Etecsa has been at the forefront of digital transformation in Cuba. The arrival of Internet through cell phones, the deployment of Wiffi zones in public spaces; for example in Contramaestre, we have five areas: city park, Baire, Los Negros, Maffo park and Laguna Blanca.
Other areas of work during these years have been the implementation of projects aimed at improving technological infrastructure and expanding coverage in rural and remote areas, ensuring that more and more people can enjoy the benefits of connectivity.
However, the times of digital transformation in the municipality reflect the complexities inherent to the economic context we are living in as a consequence of the recrudescent blockade.
“This has complicated and increased the cost of access to the purchase and renewal of equipment, technologies and IT tools that are acquired in foreign markets, since everything that is used is imported, in other words, we depend on international suppliers.
An example of how much this has affected us in Contramaestre is undoubtedly the two radio bases in the investment plan, the tower has been erected and the civil work has been built: one in the area of El Tití and the other in the Alto de La Venta in the school of Los Camilitos, but the technological equipment is still pending.
We should also mention that as a result of negotiations that the company made last year with international suppliers, a number of radio bases should enter the country, which will be distributed throughout all the provinces and we are responsible for one, to be placed in the area of La Venta; a next delivery would be for El Tití.
We are currently facing a shortage of licenses for new mobile lines, we have difficulties in acquiring terminal equipment such as Nauta Hogar, supplies to reestablish interrupted fixed services, such as cables, telephone cords, lack of updates in essential systems and platforms”.
The sustained decrease in revenues in freely convertible currency, with a 10 percent decrease reported in 2024, affects the financing of essential resources for the maintenance of telecommunications networks.
This trend is largely attributed to the devaluation of the Cuban peso and the impact of fraud associated with unofficial platforms that clone Etecsa services. The combination of these factors has severely limited investment and maintenance capacity, affecting the quality and coverage of services.
“Every time the power goes out a key question in the population is: Why is it that when the power goes out the connection gets so bad?”
There is a shortage of batteries for the cellular radio bases. We have six radio bases and every time there is a power failure in the downtown circuit, three radio bases are affected, leaving only the one in Blanquizal, the Etecsa one, here in the building, because there is energy backup, and the one at the Orlando Pantoja Hospital, and of those three, the one in Contramaestre is left with 4G”.
The sustainability of connectivity and telephony services in Contramaestre in the face of the significant challenges of the sector in 2024, has been focused on innovation and the search for alternatives in terms of infrastructure, according to the times of digital transformation.
“Etecsa workers have focused on seeking innovative solutions and alternatives to sustain the vitality of the network and services. Decisions are made on a daily basis to achieve a better use of the material and financial resources available, prioritizing the systems of national scope and those that have the greatest impact on the population and the economy.
This has allowed that despite the difficulties, mobile service users continue to grow, as well as the traffic generated by them, tripling in the last four years”.
“Every time the power goes out a key question in the population is: Why is it that when the power goes out the connection gets so bad?”
There is a shortage of batteries for the cellular radio bases. We have six radio bases and every time there is a power failure in the downtown circuit, three radio bases are affected, leaving only the one in Blanquizal, Etecsa, here in the building, because there is energy backup, and the one at the Orlando Pantoja Hospital, and of these three, the one in Contramaestre is left with 4G”.
The sustainability of connectivity and telephony services in Contramaestre in the face of the significant challenges of the sector in 2024, has been focused on innovation and the search for alternatives in terms of infrastructure, according to the times of digital transformation.
“Etecsa workers have focused on seeking innovative solutions and alternatives to sustain the vitality of the network and services. Decisions are made on a daily basis to achieve a better use of the material and financial resources available, prioritizing the systems of national scope and those that have the greatest impact on the population and the economy.
