24th ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND TRADE EXHIBITION ON CONNECT THE CARIBBEAN CONNECT THE CARIBBEAN INITIATIVE DEVELOPMENT OF ICT IN CUBA CANTO – ETECSA July 2008

CONNECT THE CARIBBEAN INITIATIVE The creation of an information society is a process that requires a high demand of ICT in daily life, in order to meet the needs of the community in an efficient manner, consequently achieving a higher of standard of living for its citizen A community that uses information technology is going to be more efficient, more effective and more competitive. Considering the above, Cuba recognized early the advantages and necessity to control and introduce ICT in daily life and to create a culture of a society well educated in the use of ICT. 24th ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND TRADE EXHIBITION ON CONNECT THE CARIBBEAN

CONNECT THE CARIBBEAN INITIATIVE The government of Cuba has focused as one of its priorities the development and use of ICT. To achieve this the government has ensured a proper telecommunication infrastructure. This commenced in 1994 with the creation of ETECSA (Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba) as the sole provider for the fixed and wireless networks in the country. The development of the telecommunication infrastructure reached in Cuba is as a result mainly due to the agreements made between ETECSA and its principal technology providers such as ERICCSON, ALCATEL-LUCENT, HUAWEI, among others. In this manner ETECSA has as a requirement that every agreement has a pilot project, to ensure that the company’s needs are met. 24th ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND TRADE EXHIBITION ON CONNECT THE CARIBBEAN

4 CONNECT THE CARIBBEAN INITIATIVE The project of using ICT in education demonstrates the impact of ICT in Cuba. Today Cuba has approximately 3.3 MM students that span primary and secondary studies in 13,700 schools and around 774,000 university students in 3,150 universities and affiliates. All these institutions mentioned are utilizing the ICT technologies including 146 schools especially created to deliver an education to one student, 241 schools that have two students and 308 that have only three students. These institutions are primarily located in remote mountainous areas where access to the regular institution is most difficult. This has been accomplished utilizing a variety of technologies such as WiFi, WiMax, Power Line Communication ( PLC ), DSL; in most cases utilizing a combination. 24th ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND TRADE EXHIBITION ON CONNECT THE CARIBBEAN

CONNECT THE CARIBBEAN INITIATIVE The experienced gained in Cuba had shown us that their exists Key Factors that must not be ignored in order to successfully deploy the use of ICT and achieve effective connectivity. Among these are the following: In the first place, the government must have as a priority the short term development of a set of measurable and achievable objectives to deliver Social Services to the community via ICT. (*) In addition governments must make “obligatory” that Telecom Operators deploy the required infrastructure to support the levels of connectivity identified as well as the Technological Solutions to realize the objectives. (*) (*) Without these two aspect it is impossible to interconnect the society in a meaningful way. 24th ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND TRADE EXHIBITION ON CONNECT THE CARIBBEAN

CONNECT THE CARIBBEAN INITIATIVE Telecom Operators must include in their implementation plans the development and deployment of infrastructure in areas of difficult access that obviously are non-profitable but that are essential to reaching the level of social connectivity we are speaking about. Telecom Operators must require as a prerequisite the investigation and evaluation of the requirements of each location before entering into an agreement with any proven Technology Provider. The above is inherent to achieve social connectivity in each country and without social connectivity being achieved in each country, it is useless to talk about “ Connecting the Caribbean” In addition we must make use of each members experiences (both the Telecom Operators as well as the Technology Providers) and implement a mechanism to share these experiences in a logical and opportune manner that shortest time possible. 24th ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND TRADE EXHIBITION ON CONNECT THE CARIBBEAN

CONNECT THE CARIBBEAN INITIATIVE For a successful development and deployment of this project, it is important to understand that the “Connecting of Societies“ must not be viewed as a lucrative project but instead should be viewed as a requirement for achieving a higher quality of life for our citizens that depend on the decisions we make. ETECSA once again offers its expertise and any information that the CANTO members may require in relation to deploying their project in relation to the “CONNECT THE CARIBBEAN INITIATIVE”. 24th ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND TRADE EXHIBITION ON CONNECT THE CARIBBEAN