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10/28/09 - EFE (Madrid) - Cuba says it hasn't heard from Miami telecoms firm

Havana, Oct 28 (EFE).- The Cuban government said Wednesday it has had no
contacts with a Miami firm that recently announced plans to build an
underwater fiber-optic cable linking the United States and the
communist-ruled island.

Neither the communications ministry nor state telephone company Etecsa has
heard from TeleCuba Communications Inc., Cuba's official media said, citing
authorities.

TeleCuba said two weeks ago that it had authorization from the U.S.
government to move ahead with the project, scheduled to become operational
in 2011.

The U.S. Treasury Department, however, has not confirmed that it granted the
firm a license to build the cable, which will run from Key West to Havana.

Cuba, now the only Caribbean country not linked to the rest of the world by
an underwater telecommunications cable, has plans to build such a line in
partnership with main ally Venezuela.

The approximately 177-kilometer (110-mile) cable TeleCuba plans will cost
about $18 million, company president and CEO Luis Coello said in an Oct. 14
press release.

TeleCuba, which has been working on the project for about 10 years, said it
expected the cable to eliminate the need for satellites in communications
between the United States and Cuba.

"The new cable will allow for an array of new telecommunication products and
services, such as high-speed Internet and cable television, which are not
feasible using current satellite communications," TeleCuba said.

The company plans to use the route of an existing copper line installed in
the 1950s between Key West and Cojimar, Cuba, located east of Havana, to lay
the new fiber-optic cable.