Cuba Connected To Global High-Speed Internet For The First Time

Cuba's First High-Speed Internet Connection Activated
In this May 9, 2012 photo, a man leaves a state-run computer center in Havana, Cuba. Cuban officials welcomed the arrival of an undersea fiber-optic cable linking the country to Venezuela, which was supposed to boost web capacity 3,000-fold. Even a retired Fidel Castro had hailed the dawn of a new cyber-age on the island. More than a year later, the government barely speaks of the cable anymore and Cuba's internet connection is still the slowest in the hemisphere. (AP Photo/Franklin Reyes)
In this May 9, 2012 photo, a man leaves a state-run computer center in Havana, Cuba. Cuban officials welcomed the arrival of an undersea fiber-optic cable linking the country to Venezuela, which was supposed to boost web capacity 3,000-fold. Even a retired Fidel Castro had hailed the dawn of a new cyber-age on the island. More than a year later, the government barely speaks of the cable anymore and Cuba's internet connection is still the slowest in the hemisphere. (AP Photo/Franklin Reyes)

Cuba has been connected to the global internet for the first time with a high-speed cable, state telecoms company Etecsa says.

The $70m (£44m) fibre-optic cable arrived from Venezuela in February 2011, but tests on the line are said to have begun only this month.

Cubans currently rely on expensive and slow satellite links to go online.

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