Cuban newspaper Juventud Rebelde reports that monopoly telco Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba (ETECSA) has said that 7,400 new mobile accounts have been opened since 14 April, when Cubans were allowed to take up the service for the first time. Previously, handsets were offered only to foreigners and government officials, although many others already had cell phones through contracts signed for them by foreigners.

According to ETECSA spokesman Maximo Lafuente Vazquez, about 300,000 cellular lines already existed on the island before President Raul Castro's new government lifted the restriction on service, and the government's aim is to have 1.6 million subscribers within five years. A service contract costs the equivalent of USD120 to activate " six months wages on the average state salary.

(TeleGeorgrapy)