Cuba’s Nauta Internet Service Will Be Down Again / 14ymedio

Public WiFi area Internet browsing on La rampa in Havana. (14ymedio)
Public WiFi area Internet browsing on La rampa in Havana. (14ymedio)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 12 October 2016 – the Cuban Telecommunications Company (ETECSA) has reported that “the different platforms that manage public Internet navigation services” will be affected by maintenance work to be carried out from between 10:00 pm this October 12 and 06:00 am on October 13.

The state telecommunications monopoly clarified in a note that “during this technical intervention [customers will not be able to] recharge Nauta service vouchers, transfer balances, or make other changes to user accounts.”

In addition, during the hours the maintenance work is being carried out “there may be intervals when navigation is affected, whether from public areas in hotels, wifi zones and ENET accounts.”

ETECSA explains the need to carry out this work because of the “sustained increase in registrations for the navigations service” in the country. A situation that forces them to “undertake preventive maintenance work on our platforms with the aim of assuring that these systems are maintained in a state of adequate availability, and to support the growing demand from our users.”

The company has apologized, “for any inconvenience this work may cause.”

ETECSA announced last September that had exceeded 200 wifi internet navigation areas across the country. A service about which user reviews are frequent, with complaints about the poor quality of the connections, frequent interruptions, congestion and high prices.

An hour of browsing in one of the wireless connection zones costs 2 CUC (roughly $2 US), the equivalent of about two days salary of a professional on the island.