Etecsa recognizes the collapse of telecommunications in Cuba due to blackouts

Etecsa, Cuba's state telecommunications company, has acknowledged that landline and mobile telephone services in the country have suffered a drastic decline. Due to the prolonged blackouts, entire communities on the island were left without cell phone coverage and internet connection. The organization explained that "during the last few months the availability of mobile and fixed services has decreased, causing more and more inconvenience to the population".

The collapse of the national electricity grid last week highlighted the severity of the problem, knocking out more than 80% of base stations and almost 70% of switchboards. The structural crisis is worsened by inflation, fuel shortages and obsolete technologies.

Currently, in fact, there are approximately 77 thousand reports of faults active on the fixed network alone.

To deal with the emergency, the company is reorganizing its investment priorities by aiming towards renewable energy.

In this regard, Etecsa underlined that "it is not feasible to continue investing to expand the access network if we do not have the capacity to energetically support the telecommunications infrastructure".