Cuba lifts restrictions on use of mobile phones

CUBA: CUBA'S GOVERNMENT yesterday lifted restrictions on the ownership and use of mobile phones, marking a small but significant step away from the Fidel Castro era.

A decree published in the Communist party newspaper Granma said the public could have prepaid contracts for mobile phones, a luxury previously reserved for senior party officials and employees of foreign companies.

The decision means less fumbling for change for pay phones and raised hopes that the new president, Raul Castro, would relax other economic and political controls.

Cuba's telecommunications monopoly, Etesca, made the announcement in a small insert on page two of Granma. "Etesca is able to offer mobile phone service to the public," it said.

Contracts will have to be paid for in Cuban convertible pesos, a parallel currency geared towards tourists and foreigners worth 24 times the peso used by most Cubans.

Few will initially be able to afford the opportunity - there was no scramble for mobile phones yesterday - but the decree was welcomed as evidence that the authorities were serious about addressing some grievances.

Some Cubans have a mobile phone service in the name of foreigners or their companies, but the island still has the lowest mobile phone use in Latin America.

Etesca, which operates as a joint venture with the Italian communications company Italcom, said it would invest revenues in improving its network and eventually offer a mobile phone service in the commonly held pesos. -

© 2008 Guardian Service

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times