{"id":210469,"date":"2019-12-08T18:44:15","date_gmt":"2019-12-08T23:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=210469"},"modified":"2019-12-08T18:44:15","modified_gmt":"2019-12-08T23:44:15","slug":"citizen-and-government-awakening-on-twitter-a-year-of-mobile-internet-in-cuba","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/cuba\/citizen-and-government-awakening-on-twitter-a-year-of-mobile-internet-in-cuba\/","title":{"rendered":"Citizen and government awakening on Twitter: a year of mobile internet in Cuba"},"content":{"rendered":"

Answering WhatsApp messages from bed and posting photos on a bus was something unthinkable for Cubans until a year ago, when the country activated its mobile <\/span>internet<\/span><\/a> network and took the first step towards a new reality, marked by greater access to information but still weighed down by high prices.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was like suddenly entering the real world,\u201d jokes Claudia, one of the thousands of persons who started using the service immediately, one of the most awaited since the island’s government opened the first public Wi-Fi points some three years before.<\/span><\/p>\n

The young engineer recalls the arrival of 3G \u201calmost like euphoria,\u201d reflected in the more than 1.8 million users who used mobile data in the first 40 days since the service was activated. An average of about 45,000 new customers a day.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
A young woman looks at her cell phone in a Wi-Fi zone in Havana. Photo: Yander Zamora \/ EFE.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An expensive milestone for the average pocket<\/strong><\/p>\n

For journalist and activist Glenda Boza, the arrival of mobile internet has been one of the milestones of the last year on the island, governed by the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) and, until very recently, one of the most disconnected countries in the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe expansion of access to internet has changed several dynamics in the lives of Cubans: it has led to greater citizen participation and criticism in the social media, the expansion of private services and businesses, greater access to information and it has facilitated unprecedented citizen mobilizations summoned from the social media,\u201d she told EFE<\/em> news agency.<\/span><\/p>\n

Boza, who lives and works in the city of Santa Clara, in the center of the country, has managed to overcome the \u201cgeographical fatality\u201d of residing outside Havana, the epicenter of the country’s cultural, political and economic life, and is today one of the most active voices on Twitter, where she has more than 3,800 followers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Together with Facebook and the WhatsApp and Telegram instant messaging applications, Twitter is among the favorites of Cubans, who have greatly increased their online presence, but at an equally high cost.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the recent increase in salaries in the public sector, the average salary of a state employee in Cuba does not exceed 45 dollars. The monthly data plans sold by ETECSA\u2015the only Cuban operator, state-owned\u2015range from 5 CUC (convertible peso equivalent to the dollar) to 35 and 45 CUC in the most expensive packages.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cuba: ETECSA offers new internet packages at high prices<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n