There has been over the last few years a very unsubtle form of internet censorship in Cuba. Instead of filters, the state simply disabled internet access in public service centres such as the post office, offering instead access to a Cuban intranet (CubaNet) together with international email. The result was that everyone queued to read their emails, rarely accessed CubaNet, and when they did so it was often to flood discussion boards with requests for fuller, unlimited access to the internet. The official response was regularly: insufficient bandwidth caused by the blockade makes internet access a scarce resource that must be prioritised. The ‘people’ were told to wait until the construction of the fibre optic cable from Venezuela that would be finished in 2010. Few believed it. And I think fewer expected the recent announcement which indicates, at least superficially, something of a change of heart.

It seems that the government is once again allowing some pressure to be relieved. This is probably a result of a number of factors. The clamour for increased internet access is becoming deafening. More and more internet use is taking place with illegal connections: people time-share officially sanctioned internet connections through state controlled ISPs. But perhaps most importantly, there seems to be a recognition that as with the legalisation of the dollar and its subsequent substitution by the ‘convertible peso’ (dollars in anybody else’s money) the only way forward is, well, forward. Internet access ‘is’. And it will only be practically accessible to those few who are prepared to spend the dollars they have to surf the net rather than buy food or the thousand and one other things they need. That same few who would find a way to surf illegally anyway. Why not capture their dollars at source?

The legalisation of the dollar led to the convertible peso which embedded the dual economy into the state system and which has, in many ways, contributed to the maintainance of state power. With so much interest in Cuban telecomms due to Obama’s relaxing of the US trade embargo on Cuba to allow telecomms companies to trade with the island (plus interest from Europe and Asia) this announcement can only be strategic. Where it’s leading and what the strategy is, is anyone’s guess. Just don’t expect gigabytes of user-generated content contributing to a revitalised public sphere too soon.

Here’s the decree that came out this week announcing the policy:

The Cuban Triangle: Resolution on Internet service

PRIMERO: Autorizar a la Empresa Correos de Cuba, como Proveedor de Servicios de Acceso a Internet al Público, los cuales deberá prestar a personas naturales en el territorio nacional a través de sus áreas de Internet.

SEGUNDO: La Empresa Correos de Cuba, brindará los servicios autorizados, conforme se estipula en la Resolución Ministerial No. 179/2008, que establece las normas para la organización, funcionamiento y obligaciones del Proveedor de Servicios de Acceso a Internet al Público.

And here’s an interesting factfile from Reuters on interest in Cuban telecomms.