In a brief statement to The Associated Press, Telefonica SA acknowledged that it provides service to Cuba’s state-run phone company, ETECSA, but disavowed any connection to the ALBA-1 cable, which was completed in February 2011.
“Telefonica has no involvement with the submarine cable
ALBA-1, which links Cuba with Venezuela,” chief press officer Miguel
Angel Garzon said in the statement.
Telefonica was responding to a
report by Internet intelligence firm Renesys, which noted faster data
traffic to the island via Telefonica beginning last week, and concluded
that it meant Cuba was finally using the fiber-optic cable.
Internet
speed is calculated by measuring the fractions of seconds it takes to
send a packet of data somewhere and then receive confirmation back at
the original location.
The report’s author, Renesys senior analyst
Doug Madory, explained that it typically takes around 240 milliseconds
for data to travel from earth to a satellite, so for satellite
connections, so-called latency measurements are at least 480
milliseconds.
Last week he began detecting speeds below 480 and
concluded that Cuba was apparently using the fiber-optic cable to handle
incoming traffic, though outgoing data was being transmitted by
satellite.
Madory told The Associated Press on Tuesday that speeds
in Cuba had improved even further that morning, with “ping” tests
conducted from Chicago and Los Angeles coming in at 180 and 200
milliseconds, respectively. That would mean no leg of the traffic was
happening via satellite.
“It’s almost getting to be a reasonable connection,” Madory said.
He
said the Telefonica statement was not in conflict with his report. The
cable was strung with the help of French company Alcatel-Lucent, and
“ETECSA is using the cable to reach Telefonica service in Venezuela,” he
said.
The ALBA-1 cable was strung from Venezuela nearly two years
ago with great fanfare, but authorities soon fell silent about it amid
whispers of purported corruption and embezzlement involving the project.
Cuban
officials have not responded to requests for comment about the status
of the cable. In the past, the government has said it would be
prioritized for usage in the public interest and for social good.
Until now, Internet in Cuba has been through satellite links that are slower than fiber.
The island ranks second-to-last in the world in Internet connectivity, according to one study.
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