In 2017, Cuba is still seen as one of the most cut-off countries. It has been called "one of the most restrictive media environments in the world" In its quest to connect more people to the internet, Google has opened a new data center in the country where it will cache information such as YouTube videos, locally.
The company said its work with Cuba reflects its goals of making information accessible across the world by removing barriers such as cost, connectivity and language.
To make this possible, Google has signed an agreement with Cuba's national telecommunication provider, ETECSA, to use its technology to make high-bandwidth activities faster.
The search giant is becoming the first foreign internet company to launch a service in Cuba, in a move to open its doors to modern society and greater access to information. Previously, internet has to travel to Cuba through ALBA-1 submarine cable from Venezuela. This made connection very low and unstable.
Furthermore, the internet is also restricted due to poor infrastructure and with the government having full control of it.
Google has been working with Cuba since 2014, when Barack Obama and Raul Castro announced the re-opening of relations between the two countries. Google first announced the plan to have its servers in Cuba at the end of 2016, saying that Cuban people "can expect to see an improvement in terms of quality of service and reduced for cached latency".
Most Cuban people don't have the permission to have internet in their homes, and can only access it in some places such as places of work, education facilities and at Wi-Fi hotspots which cost $1.50 per hour. They can also access the internet on internet cafes. But since the average cost is around $4.50, it's too expensive for average Cuban people that have an monthly income of $25,
As of 2017, it's estimated that only 5 percent of Cubans have access to the internet.