• Submitted by: admin
• Science and Technology
• Society
• 03 / 08 / 2019

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This Thursday, ETECSA announced that it will start offering services in the 4G mobile network to "relieve" the overload in the 3G network, which started in December last.

The head of the ETECSA wireless group, Eliecer Samada, said on television that the start-up of the 4G technology will begin experimentally in an area of the northern coast of Havana, with some "10,000 users who are high internet consumers" .

However, the purpose is that the service will gradually be extended gradually to the rest of the country.

According to the manager, the decision responds to a "strategy" of the company in order to "relieve the 3G network", which is overloaded.

To this is added, obviously, those who have the 4G service may have greater connection speed, according to Samada.

After months of waiting and continuous extensions, ETECSA launched 3G on December 6, however, that network has faced connection difficulties and congestion of voice and data services. In general, 3G has received criticism for the slow service and some difficulties to make calls and send SMS.

Another person in charge of the company, Kevin Castro, added that these problems are motivated by the "exponential growth" they have had.

In that sense, they are optimistic because 4G "will generate us a remaining capacity in 3G, which can be used by users who consume less and will improve the service," Castro said.

This Thursday, a user of the 3G service asked through Twitter why the 4G appeared on his phone although he could not connect.

ETECSA has responded that "the 4G network is already visible in the areas where the Radiobases are located" but it will be from tomorrow, Friday, March 8, that it will be "available for the most consumed customers in these areas".

@ETECSA_Cuba @Cubacel_ETECSA ¿Por qué veo la 4G en mi celular y no puedo conectarme?.. @Yo_klaus @taniavel76 @MayraArevich pic.twitter.com/sqAXl1qtVt

— Arturo Ochoa Poveda (@arturo9704) 7 de marzo de 2019

Currently, "7% of users (of the 3G network) consume 52% of the traffic", according to ETECSA data.

In Cuba there are 5.3 million mobile lines and a total of 1,870,000 customers have enabled the connection by mobile data on their cell phones.

A little less than a week ago, Granma reported that an average of 5,000 users are daily joining the Internet service for mobile data since the 3G technology began operating.

On December 6, the Internet service for mobile data was activated in Cuba, with a minimum tariff of 7 CUC per 600 MB. A very high price in a country whose average salary is 767 pesos ($ 30.68) per month.