Testing of Wi-Fi service on Cuban trains begins months late – 2024-05-13 18:41:15

This weekend, testing of the Wi-Fi service on Cuban national trains began, with the aim of providing the service to all lines.

The State Company for Integral Telecommunications Solutions SA, Solintel, reported in a brief statement that the tests had begun, but did not give more details about the units in which the service will be launched or how it will be evaluated.

“Field tests of the R&D&I project for the Wi-Fi service on national trains began,” the entity said on Facebook.

The company is integrated into the Computer and Communications Business Group (GEIC), all managed by the Cuban government.

At the moment it is also unknown which will be the first routes to have this improvement, as well as what the cost of the service will be, since connectivity in Cuba is one of the most expensive on the continent.

At least when talking about cell phones and mobile networks, an hour of connection in Cuba has the same value as a full week of service in Mexico or Chile.

There is also doubt about the quality, since until now the government has been unable to provide quality internet on the Island, neither stationary nor wireless, so it is not clear what those who decide to contract the service will expect.

Nor has much been said about the cost that this modification has had for the country, since the government insists that it does not have enough budget to solve basic problems such as food shortages and electricity outages that lead to hours-long blackouts, but it invests in unnecessary services like this.

The installation of Wi-Fi on the Island’s trains was announced by the government in March 2023, but everything necessary took more than a year to be installed.

According to authorities, passengers would be able to send and receive email messages with attachments, browse the web, chat with access to social networks and applications and access the corporate intranet.

But everything necessary to start the project was delayed, and although the work schedule included a pilot test in the third quarter of last year, it was not until this month that the announcement of the beginning was made.

Even, according to Robelis Lambert Matos, president of SOLINTEL, he even declared last March that the aforementioned announcement was made: “we intend to close the year with service in some sections”, which clearly was not fulfilled.