EuroWire March 2015

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Transatlantic cable
March 2015 41
At that time, according to Felice Gorordo, CEO of the
Miami-based non-pro t Roots of Hope, which aims to build
trade with Cuba, “the [Cuban] government had a couple of
hundred thousand mobile phones. There are now more than
two million in Cuba – all 2G.”
No undersea cable to the USA
Ms Darrow noted that, “needless to say,” Mr Gorordo – who is
also a White House Fellow in the US O ce of Public Engagement
and Intergovernmental A airs – is happy about the thaw in
USA-Cuba relations. But he doubts that an accurate estimate
can be made of the size of the potential telecom market
in Cuba, and sees no guarantee that the still-authoritarian
Cuban government will allow an incursion of USA technology
interests. A potential obstacle is ETECSA, the state-run entity
that controls telecommunications in Cuba. ETECSA is “not only
the operator but also controls the cellular phone company and
the cybercafes,” Mr Gorordo told Ms Darrow. “It is a monopoly
at each end – retail and wholesale.” Connectivity is another
challenge. As Gigaom pointed out in December, Cuba – only
228 nautical miles from Florida – has no submarine cable
connections to the USA. Its sole undersea bre optic cable has
two branches: to nearby Jamaica and Venezuela.
† By way of comparison to Cuba, the Dominican Republic – a
country of similar size but with one million fewer people –
has ve bre optic cables linking it to the rest of the world.
“So the need is there, presuming Cuba wants to be part of
the larger world,” wrote Ms Darrow. But the cash is not, she
was told by an executive with a large USA computer and
networking company. Making another comparison, this
observer equated the economy of Cuba with that of West
Virginia – the third-poorest state in America.
† With tourism leading the way, the Cuban economy will
likely improve, creating more of a monetary incentive for
American vendors. But another Gigaom source – Robert
Muse, a Washington, DC-based specialist in the laws
governing USA-Cuba relations – pointed out that the Cuban
government still views control of media and information
as necessary to state security. In December Mr Muse told
Scienti c American: “It seems unlikely that Cuba is going
to welcome US telecom infrastructure providers or direct,
unmediated broadcasts between the US and the island – at
least for now.”
Mobile phones gain ground – quite a bit
of it – in the highest echelons
of the USA civil service
According to a report from the management consulting rm
ICF International (Fairfax, Virginia), some 93 per cent of senior
employees of the USA federal government embrace digital
technology in the workplace, with nearly three-quarters using
an agency-issued smartphone and about half using a personal
device for business purposes. As reviewed in FierceMobileGov-
ernment (28th January), the ICF report, commissioned by the
National Academy of Public Administration, surveyed responses
from more than 500 randomly selected senior civil servants
GS-13 and above in the federal system of 15 pay-grades.
In a major nding by ICF – which also examined issues of IT
investment and technology procurement – 82 per cent of
the federal employees said they believe job-related online
information and services should be available at any time and on
any device.