Deal that eliminates long distances signal have to travel through Venezuela removes major obstacle to normal, faster internet in Cuba

Google and the Cuban government have signed a deal allowing the internet giant to provide faster access to its data by installing servers on the island that will store much of the company’s most popular content.

Storing Google data in Cuba eliminates the long distances that signals must travel from the island through Venezuela to the nearest Google server. More than a half century after cutting virtually all economic ties with Cuba, the US has no direct data link to the island.

The deal announced on Monday removes one of the many obstacles to a normal internet in Cuba, which suffers from some of the world’s most limited and expensive access. Home connections remain illegal for most Cubans and the government charges the equivalent of a month’s average salary for 10 hours of access to public Wi-Fi spots with speeds frequently too slow to download files or watch streaming video.

Cuba's 'offline internet': no access, no power, no problem Read more

The deal does not affect Cuba’s antiquated communications infrastructure or broaden public access to the internet, but it could make Google websites like YouTube or Gmail up to 10 times faster for users inside Cuba. Content hosted by other companies will not be affected.

Neither Google chairman Eric Schmidt nor Cuban officials spoke to the press after the signing ceremony in Havana.

Cuban officials appear to be accelerating their approvals of deals with US companies in an attempt to build momentum behind US-Cuba normalization before Donald Trump takes office next month. The Google pact was announced less than a week after Cuba gave three US cruise companies permission to begin sailing to the island next year. Officials familiar with the negotiations say other deals, including one with General Electric, are in the works.

The US and Cuba have struck a series of bilateral deals on issues ranging from environmental protection to direct mail since the declaration of detente on 17 December 2014, but business ties have failed to keep pace. The Cuban government has blamed the US trade embargo on Cuba. Many US businesses say Cuba has been moving on most proposals so slowly that some suspect the government has been deliberately limiting the development of economic ties.

The Google program could provide ammunition for US advocates of closer ties with Cuba. Both pro-detente forces and those arguing for a hard line on President Raúl Castro’s single-party government have been pushing for Cubans to have better access to information.

If the Google deal proves to truly improve internet access for a significant number of Cubans, it ties information access to US-Cuban detente in a way that could prove politically difficult to undo for anti-Castro officials in the incoming Trump administration.</s>Google signed an agreement with the Cuban government on Monday granting internet users on the Communist-run island quicker access to its branded content.

Eric Schmidt, chairman of Google’s parent company Alphabet Inc, signed the deal with Mayra Arevich Marin, president of state telecommunications monopoly ETECSA. It grants Cubans speedy access to the Google Global Cache network, which stores content from sites like Gmail and YouTube on servers located closer to end users.

In a country where public internet access is limited to slow and expensive Wi-Fi hot spots, it was not clear how the deal would actually impact service in the short term.

“This deal allows ETECSA to use our technology to reduce latency by caching some of our most popular high bandwidth content like YouTube videos at a local level,” a Google statement said.

“This may improve reception of cached materials, but not for example email which depends on local bandwidth,” a local telecommunications technician said, requesting anonymity for fear of losing his job.

Google and ETECSA were not immediately available for comment.

President Barack Obama has made improved internet access a central part of his efforts to normalize relations with Cuba, first announced two years ago.

However, Cuba to date has balked at allowing U.S. companies to participate in wiring the country, citing national security concerns.

Whether because of a lack of investment or concerns about the flow of information in a Communist state that monopolizes the media, Cuba has lagged behind in internet usage. Only 3.4 per cent of Cuban homes had either intranet or internet access last year, according to a U.N. agency.

The Google deal comes as officials in Havana and Washington are working to wrap up pending commercial accords before President Barack Obama leaves office next month.

President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to scrap detente between the Cold War foes unless Cuba makes political and other concessions.

Improved bilateral relations have been accomplished through executive orders circumventing trade embargo laws and can easily be reversed by Trump.

The Obama administration has said it hopes increased commercial links between the two countries will make it difficult for future administrations to undo the recent warming in U.S.-Cuba relations.</s>HAVANA – Google and the Cuban government signed a deal Monday allowing the internet giant to provide faster access to its data by installing servers on the island that will store much of the company’s most popular content.

Storing Google data in Cuba eliminates the long distances that signals must travel from the island through Venezuela to the nearest Google server. More than a half century after cutting virtually all economic ties with Cuba, the United States has no direct data link to the island.

The deal announced Monday removes one of the many obstacles to a normal internet in Cuba, which suffers from some of the world’s most limited and expensive access. Home connections remain illegal for most Cubans and the government charges the equivalent of a month’s average salary for 10 hours of access to public Wi-Fi spots with speeds frequently too slow to download files or watch streaming video.

The deal does not affect Cuba’s antiquated communications infrastructure or broaden public access to the internet, but it could make Google websites like YouTube or Gmail up to 10 times faster for users inside Cuba. Content hosted by other companies will not be affected.

Neither Google chairman Eric Schmidt nor Cuban officials spoke to the press after the signing ceremony in Havana.</s>HAVANA – A source familiar with a deal being announced between Cuba and Google says it will make Google websites like YouTube run up to 10 times faster on the island.

Google is installing multiple servers in Cuba that will host much of the company's most popular content, the person said on condition of anonymity because the deal had not yet been made public. The agreement was being announced by Google chairman Eric Schmidt Monday morning in Havana.

Storing Google data in Cuba eliminates the long distances that signals must travel from the island through Venezuela to the nearest Google server. The U.S. has no direct data link to the island, contributing to painfully slow internet speeds that make sites like YouTube virtually impossible to use for many.</s>Bengaluru: Internet connectivity in the city was affected on Tuesday as several Internet Service Providers (ISPs) with infrastructure in Chennai warned their customers of intermittent outages because of the impact of Cyclone Vardah.

ACT Broadband, Hathway Broadband and Airtel sent messages to customers stating that internet speeds and network access were likely to be affected. Airtel stated that one of its undersea network cables had been impacted as a result of which internet speeds could be affected.

Google India tweeted that the company was facing network issues but did not elaborate. Hathway cited difficulties being faced by Google as the reason for disruption of its services.

None of the companies gave a time frame for restoring normalcy.</s>The Year in Pakistan Search: Trending searches on Google.com.pk in 2016

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In addition to showcasing what people were curious about in Pakistan, Google Search tools also offer insight into which topics captured the entire world’s attention in 2016.

Visit Google.com/2016 to explore the rest of the 2016 Year in Search stories and top trending charts from countries around the world.

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MORE FROM THIS SECTION</s>Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser, said the outgoing administration hopes to persuade the incoming Trump administration to preserve Obama's policy of engagement despite the president-elect's threat to roll back the opening with the communist-ruled island.

Just weeks before Trump takes office, Obama and his aides are seeking to further cement one of his top foreign policy legacy initiatives, a breakthrough between former Cold War foes announced two years ago. But since Obama eased travel and trade restrictions through executive actions, Trump would be able to reverse them on his own if he chooses to do so.

"Cuba has been and will be on the list of issues where President Obama will make his case that this is the right approach for American interests," Rhodes told reporters on a teleconference, referring to transition talks between the two.

Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, has vowed to "terminate" Obama's engagement with Cuba unless Havana gives the United States what he calls a "better deal," including allowing broader political freedoms on the island. The Cuban government so far has refrained from commenting on Trump's statements.

"What we believe would be very damaging is any effort to turn off the opening," Rhodes said, asserting it would hurt the Cuban people, U.S. business interests and Washington's standing in Latin America.

He said the administration has sought to make the policy "irreversible," and suggested that Trump, a businessman-turned-politician, should consider whether it makes sense to roll it back.

Rhodes, who played a key role in negotiating the opening, said a reversal would boost Cuban "hardliners" opposed to engagement as Havana heads into its own political transition. Cuban President Raul Castro has said he will step down in 2018.

"Do you really want to cancel travel plans for hundreds of thousands of Americans?” Rhodes asked. "Do you want to tell businesses as diverse as our major airlines or Google or General Electric ... that have been pursuing opportunities in Cuba that they have to terminate those activities?"

Rhodes, who was also in Cuba for memorial services for late Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro this month, said Cuban officials were uncertain about Trump and would wait to see how he proceeded.

The White House is planning a meeting with "stakeholders" on Cuba policy this week, he said.

The administration is pressing Cuba for further economic reforms, Rhodes said, and encouraging new deals with U.S. companies before Obama leaves office.

Rhodes also said there was currently an "incentive structure" for economic change following the death of Fidel Castro, a vocal critic of detente, but that no progress has been made on political reforms.

U.S. critics of Cuba engagement have accused Obama of making too many concessions. But despite restoration of relations, the Republican-controlled Congress has resisted lifting the broader U.S. economic embargo.</s>NISSAN’S luxury brand Infiniti has registered its first US vehicle in Cuba in 58 years.

Just weeks after the death of Fidel Castro who governed the island for almost 50 years, the Infiniti Q60 has been introduced onto the streets of Havana.

It was delivered there by Infiniti’s executive design director, Alfonso Albaisa, who had a very personal reason for visiting the Caribbean island.

Alfonso’s family come from Cuba but he grew up in Miami and was keen to trace his roots and visit his parents’ birthplace.

But he also wanted to visit and see for himself the buildings designed by his great-uncle, the architect, Max Borges-Recio. These included the Tropicana, the Club Nautico and Borges-Recio’s own home.

From this heritage comes Albaisa’s own talent. He was instrumental in creating the flowing silhouette of the line up of current Infiniti vehicles.

While in Cuba, Albaisa made a video documenting a Cuba that seems likely to radically change in the near future.

Fidel Castro came to power on the island in the late fifties when Cuba had become a Mafia-run party island . Castro along with his right hand man Che Guevara launched a successful rebellion against what they saw as American excesses.

Almost overnight all US citizens fled the island leaving behind them many possessions and notably big gas guzzling American cars.

In the bitter years that followed, Cuba sought assistance from Russia and relations between Washington and Havana broke down completely culminating first of all in the Bay of Pigs botched invasion followed by the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Castro governed Cuba until 2008 setting up what were seen as landmark education and health policies. At the same time, continuing poor relations with the US meant there was very little trade, particularly in cars. Cars abandoned in the fifties were, by necessity, kept running and the island is now an automotive snapshot of that era.

Ill health forced Castro to retire and hand over the reins of power to his brother Raoul who continues to lead the country today.

The so-called Cuban Thaw began in 2015 and this year in March President Barack Obama made history when he set foot on Cuban soil. He was followed by a tranche of world leaders all paying their respects to the now elder statesman Fidel Castro, who died on November 25 aged 90.

Improving relations have now allowed Infiniti to import foreign cars.
Google and Cuba forge a deal about better access to the Internet for the island.