Google Signs Deal With Cuba to Speed Services
December 12 2016 - 4:00PM
Dow Jones News
Alphabet Inc.'s Google completed a deal with Cuba to place
computer servers on the island to speed Google services there, a
pact that officials hurried to complete before President Barack
Obama leaves office next month.
Alphabet Chairman Eric Schmidt signed an agreement in Havana on
Monday with Cuba's state telecommunications company, La Empresa de
Telecomunicaciones de Cuba SA, concluding months of talks.
The Google servers in Cuba will store content such as popular
YouTube videos, allowing the content to be delivered more quickly
to Cuban users. The move is the latest to improve internet access
for the country of 11.2 million people, which has long been one of
the world's most isolated nations.
Mobile phones, Wi-Fi hotspots and broadband connections to homes
are all increasing rapidly in Cuba, according to the U.S. Chamber
of Commerce. Roughly 150,000 people accessed the internet daily
last year, more than double the year prior, the chamber said.
Google, which has long had an obsession with the speed of its
internet services, operates servers around the globe to accelerate
speeds for local users, including in Greenland, Somalia, Yemen and
the Gaza Strip, said Doug Madory, an internet-infrastructure
analyst at Dynamic Network Services Inc. The shortlist of countries
without Google servers includes China, Iran, Syria and North Korea,
among others, Mr. Madory said.
Google has found that when its services respond more quickly,
users conduct more Google searches and watch more YouTube videos,
enabling the company to sell more ads.
The deal comes after the Obama administration had pressed Cuban
officials to complete pending deals with U.S. firms ahead of the
inauguration next month of President-elect Donald Trump, who has
questioned the U.S.'s warming relations with Cuba.
The administration hopes such deals could help make permanent
its moves to open diplomatic and commercial ties between the
countries. Cuba last week approved plans by Royal Caribbean Cruises
Ltd., Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. and Pearl Seas Cruises to
launch cruises to the island nation next year.
Signs of spreading internet use are apparent around Cuba, from
the small companies created under a recent economic opening to the
parks and street corners where internet hotspots attract many young
people.
In front of one Havana park with Wi-Fi, whereas many as 150
people sometimes sit staring at their phones, Fé lix Emilio
Villamontes helps run a three-person computer-repair shop called
Voltaplus, where business is accelerating.
"We're more or less just now starting to see earnings, because
this kind of business has lots of competition, lots of repair shops
nearby," the 45-year-old Mr. Villamontes said. "People are really
demanding around here. You have to show that you do it well to keep
your clients."
Write to Jack Nicas at jack.nicas@wsj.com and Juan Forero at
Juan.Forero@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 12, 2016 15:45 ET (20:45 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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