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The Telecommunications Ball Is Now In Cuba's Court

Posted by Soulskill on from the what-will-you-build? dept.

lpress writes: The FCC has dropped Cuba from its exclusion list (PDF), so there are now no restrictions on U.S. telecom company dealings with ETECSA, the Cuban government telecommunication monopoly, or any other Cuban organization. Last week the U.S. sent its second high-level telecommunication delegation to Cuba. The delegates were FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and other government officials plus representatives of Cisco, Comcast, and Ericsson. Some of the news: there are at least 6 proposals for an undersea cable between Havana and Florida; Cisco has proposed a Network Academy at Cuba's leading computer science university (Chinese infrastructure dominates today); 4G mobile connectivity was discussed and Google was conspicuously absent. The time for Cuba to act is now — while President Obama is still in office.

4 of 59 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Here we go again ... by radiumsoup · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So, US companies are already looking to carve up Cuba for their own interests, and what happens to the Cuban people be damned.

    That's not how Capitalism works.

    Hey, I know, stop meddling and let them decide what the hell they want.

    That *is* how Capitalism works.

  2. Re:Here we go again ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    All in theory yes. In reality not even close, the statement from the GP is so much more accurate

    So, US companies are already looking to carve up Cuba for their own interests, and what happens to the Cuban people be damned.

    The consumer gets very little power in making decisions on their own. The power really lies with the companies. Chemicals put into our food, clothes, furniture, packaging, etc all put there without our consent or knowledge and absolutely no testing done on any of them other than, well it didn't kill someone on contact, must be ok.

    Flint, MI water supply. Consumers had zero say in where their water came from or how it was treated.

    Depending on where you live, you get little to no say in your electricity coming from green, renewable resources or from coal.

    Again, depending on where you live, you have little to no choice in telecom/internet providers. Which, btw, is the vast majority of the land.

    Consumer purchasing power only comes down to a few end user items and brands. But for the actual companies running the world, we have no choice at all.

  3. Re:Here we go again ... by khallow · · Score: 1, Insightful
    Please, stop being an idiot. For example, it was the state of Michigan which had interfered with the affairs of Flint, not a business. And you can always buy your own power generators, if you want green or coal power. And the US's perplexing maze of regulation has done much to restrict your choice of telecom/internet provider. For example, why haven't the supposedly superior cell phone networks of Europe or Japan been extended to the US? It's a big market with lots of money.

    Consumer purchasing power only comes down to a few end user items and brands. But for the actual companies running the world, we have no choice at all.

    Which if you think about it, is a strength of capitalism. You shouldn't have a say in most of what goes on in the world. It's not your business.

  4. Rewarding governments for oppressing citizens? by acoustix · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Cuba is still a very oppressive place to live. Why are we rewarding that behavior?

    --
    "A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson