Cuba and Venezuela to be connected via underground cable

Havana, Jan 13 (Prensa Latina) Cuba and Venezuela willestablish an underground cable as part of a telecommunicationsproject between the two countries.

At Siboney Beach, a place located 8.7 miles from the cityof Santiago, a group of technicians is intensifying work tostart the installation of the necessary infrastructure, whichincludes a communication center.

The start of the installation of the optical fibre cablefrom a place called Cauri, near the Venezuelan port of LaGuaira, to get to Santiago de Cuba in the first few weeks ofFebruary this year, is scheduled from January 18 to 20.

Most of the equipment and accessories for this Cubaninvestment has been received.

The cable, which is 1,012 miles long, will have ajunction in Santiago de Cuba, to give Cuba the possibility toconnect with Jamaica and other Caribbean countries. The costof this project is estimated at around USD 70 million.

At the time the cable gets to operate, the technologicalprogress will multiply the transmission speed 3,000 times andit will not block the Internet satellite services of Cuba.

This investment will help Cuba break the communicationblockade the US government has imposed over the country andwill also aid in expanding Cuba''s communication with LatinAmerican and Caribbean nations. (Prensa Latina)