Havana - Cuban authorities on Wednesday declined to grant internet access to private homes on the communist island despite the expansion of communication infrastructure.
“Cubans are expected to be connected (to the internet) in their homes, but the initial priority in the current circumstances will be granted to collective points of access,” Cuba's deputy communications minister Wilfredo Gonzalez Vidal said in an interview published in the Communist Party daily Granma.
Gonzalez Vidal wrote that the goal is “to reach the greatest number of people with less investment.”
On Tuesday, Cuban authorities announced that 118 internet cafes would open around the country to benefit from a fibre-optic cable strung from Venezuela. They are to join around 200 points of access in the island's tourist hotels, although prices will in all cases remain high for Cuban standards.
Gonzalez Vidal denied that the decision to restrict internet access has political underpinnings, as dissidents charge.
“We insist that there are no limitations beyond technological and financial ones,” he said.
Private citizens in Cuba are not allowed to have internet access. Only public institutions, foreign companies and some journalists, government officials and artists can have a connection at home.
Dissidents like award-winning blogger Yoani Sanchez say the government of Cuban President Raul Castro fears granting open access to the web. Sanchez, who made a name for herself for her criticism of the Cuban government in the blog Generacion Y, says she goes online at high rates in tourist hotels on the island.
The benefits of the fibre-optic cable from Venezuela only became apparent this week, although it was supposed to have been ready by mid 2011. Up to now, Cuba has had what was regarded as one of the worst internet connections in the world through a satellite provider. - Sapa-dpa