Mobile rates drop in Cuba

Mobile telephony services in Cuba are set to become more affordable following an announcement from the island’s Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) that the cost of calls and SMS will be reduced beginning in February, Prensa Latina reported.

The publication cited MIC Resolutions 11 and 12 published on website cubadebate.cu, which states the cost of a text message will drop from CUC0.16 to CUC0.09, while calls will fall from CUC0.6 to CUC0.45 per minute, provided the payments are in convertible pesos.

Resolution 12 establishes a calling-party-pays (CPP) system, which means mobile subscribers will no longer have to pay to receive calls and messages.

Cuba’s sole telecoms operator is state-owned Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba (ETECSA), according to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database. The company had around 1.3 million mobile subscribers at the end of 2011.