Internet in Cuba

The internet in Cuba covers telecommunications in Cuba including the Cuban grassroots wireless community network and Internet censorship in Cuba.

Since its introduction in the late 1990s, Cuban Internet has stalled because of lack of funding, tight government restrictions, and the U.S. embargo, especially the Torricelli Act. Starting in 2007 this situation began to slowly improve, with 3G data services rolling out island-wide in 2018, and 4G since 2019, albeit through a government-monitored network. On July 29, 2019, Cuba legalized private WiFi in homes and businesses. According to website DataReportal, in 2022, 68% of the Cuban population had access to the Internet.

In September 1996, Cuba's first connection to the Internet, a 64 kbit/s link to Sprint in the United States, was established. After this initial introduction, the expansion of Internet access in Cuba stagnated. Despite a lack of consensus on the specific reasons, the following appear to be major factors:

In 2009, President Obama announced that the United States would allow American companies to provide Internet service to Cuba, and U.S. regulations were modified to encourage communication links with Cuba. The Cuban government rejected the offer, however, preferring to work instead with the Venezuelan government. In 2009 a U.S. company, TeleCuba Communications, Inc., was granted a license to install an undersea cable between Key West, Florida and Havana, although political considerations on both sides prevented the venture from moving forward.

About 30 percent of the population (3 million users, 79th in the world) had access to the internet in 2012. Internet connections are through satellite leading the cost of accessing the internet to be high. Private ownership of a computer or cell phone required a difficult-to-obtain government permit until 2008. When buying computers was legalized in 2008, the private ownership of computers in Cuba soared—there were 630,000 computers available on the island in 2008, a 23% increase over 2007). Owing to limited bandwidth, authorities gave preference to use from locations where Internet access is used on a collective basis, such as in workplaces, schools, and research centers, where many people have access to the same computers or network.

The ALBA-1 undersea fiber-optic link to Venezuela was laid in 2011 and became operational for public users in January 2013. This replaced a system which relied on the Intersputnik satellite system and aging telephone lines connecting with the United States. Total bandwidth between Cuba and the global internet before the cable was just 209 Mbit/s upstream and 379 downstream.

In 2015, the Cuban government opened the first public wi-fi hotspots in 35 public locations. It also reduced prices and increased speeds for internet access at state-run cybercafés.^{[citation needed]} As of July 2016, 4,334,022 Cubans (38.8% of the total population) were Internet users.

By January 2018, there were public hotspots in approximately 500 public locations nationwide providing access in most major cities, and the country relies heavily on public infrastructure whereas home access to the Internet remains largely inaccessible for the general population. In 2018, the state announced a plan to start offering mobile Internet by the end of the year. That began in December 2018, and during 2019, limited 4G coverage began.