Dive Brief:
- Google announced Monday it will work with Cuba's state-run telecommunications company to speed up delivery of Google products like YouTube, making those services up to 10 times faster in the country, according to The Guardian. Content hosted by other companies will not change.
- Today, the Google server closest to Cuba is in Venezuela. But improving content delivery will not involve upgrading the country’s antiquated infrastructure. By installing servers and storing content via Google’s "Global Cache" service, users in Cuba will now be able to get Google content at a decent speed.
- Home internet connections are still illegal for most Cubans and only about 5% of Cuban citizens have access to the internet at all.
Dive Insight:
Alphabet chairman Eric Schmidt and Cuban officials attended a signing ceremony in Havana, but neither party offered additional comments.
Google has made Cuba a pet project of sorts. Last March, Google reported it was working with Cuba to expand Internet services throughout the country and made its Google Chrome Web browser and Google Play music service available in some areas.
Internet access is increasingly viewed as vital to enabling countries to compete in the 21st century, and now that U.S.-Cuba relations have improved, companies like Google are eager to help bring the country up to speed.
