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Cuba Offers 3G Mobile Internet Access To Citizens (bbc.com)
Cuba's population is to be offered internet access via a 3G mobile network from later this week. From a report: Telecom provider Etecsa said citizens would be able to start subscribing to the service from Thursday. Until now, locals have mostly relied on wi-fi hotspots and internet cafes and the 3G service has been restricted to state-employed journalists and foreign businesses among others. This will change -- but many will still be unable to afford the new contracts. Etecsa's packages range from a month's use of 600MB of data for 7CUC ($7) to 4GB for 30CUC. Users get a bonus 300MB use of local .cu domain websites. But the average state wage for the island's 11.2 million residents is the equivalent of about $30 per month.
Cuba has two parallel currencies. The normal peso can't be legally exchanged for foreign currency, and is worth about 4 cents on the black market. The CUC can be converted, and is pegged one-to-one with the US dollar.
Many corrupt dictatorships have parallel currencies. The elite are paid in the convertible currency, which they can then sell on the black market for a huge profit (2500% in Cuba).
The fact that the 3G service described in TFA can only be bought with CUC means that normal people, paid in unconvertible pesos, can't use it unless they buy CUC on the black market at an exorbitant markup.
Marxist Utopia works better in theory than in practice.