How do Cubans use the internet and smartphones on the island?

How do Cubans use the internet and smartphones on the island?
Cubans prefer Facebook over other social media.
ABEL FERNÁNDEZ
Staff@InCubaToday.com

More than half of the Cubans who use the island's Nauta internet service
provided by the national telecommunications monopoly ETECSA, have to
travel up to three miles to get to a wifi spot.

That data was obtained by Ding, a company based in Ireland used daily by
thousands of people across the globe to send mobile recharge and Nauta
credit to phones in Cuba. The company recently carried out a survey on
100 people in Havana and asked them about how they use the internet in
Cuba since the introduction of the wifi hotspots last year.


A woman uses Wi-Fi in Havana. ADALBERTO ROQUE AFP/Getty Images
Here are some of the most interesting survey findings:

▪ 62 percent of the people surveyed regularly receive mobile recharge
from abroad. (In Cuba, the mobile phone works with a credit that must be
recharged. Each time the balance is exhausted, the user must purchase more).

▪ 93 percent of Nauta users own a smartphone, and 84 percent sleep with
their phone nearby — expecting late night phone calls from abroad.

▪ 50 percent of the users keep in touch using text messages; none use
Twitter for messages.

▪ 37 percent of Cubans use the wifi weekly. Only a small percentage use
them daily.

▪ 95 percent of Cubans use Facebook for social. Other social channels
are nowhere near as popular.

The Nauta platform offers two services: a permanent e-mail service on
mobile, which had over one million users last year, and temporary
internet access with a connection speed of 1 megabyte that costs about
$2 CUC (about $2.00), quite expensive considering that the average
monthly salary in the country is $20.

Internet access on the island remains one of the lowest in Latin America.

Follow Abel Fernández on Twitter @abelfglez

Source: Cubans prefer Facebook over other social media, survey finds |
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