Cuba Plans Bandwidth Bump, But Restricts Internet

The country of Cuba will soon have a new high speed internet pipe to play with, but a top Cuba official has confirmed that the general public will still remain restricted.

Due to the U.S. Trade Embargo, Cuba has been left to relying on satellite-based internet access.  In 2010 that will change however, with the completion of a link with Venezuela over 960 miles away.  In contract, a U.S. link exists just twenty miles away, however the embargo does not allow Cuba to connect to it. 

Despite the drastically improved connectivity and speeds in 2010, Cuba official Boris Moreno says that the country will still restrict internet use and access by the general public once the new link comes online.  Priority access will still be given to universities, companies and research centers.

Currently just 1.4 million of the 11.4 million people living in Cuba have internet access, revealing that the Cuban civilians still remain mostly "offline."