How Broadband Can Foster Cuba’s Economic Modernization
By Gary Shapiro, President and CEO, Consumer Technology Association (CTA)
The most obvious effects of the U.S. embargo on Cuba are hard to miss, such as the fleet of vintage cars still on the roads and the rundown hotel fronts lining Havana’s colonial-era boulevards. But one of the most profound effects is something you can’t see — the lack of technology infrastructure to fully connect Cuba with the Internet Age.
U.S. tourism to Cuba jumped 77 percent in 2015, a direct result of President Obama’s 2014 decision to ease travel restrictions to the communist-run nation after more than a half-century. A report by J Walter Thompson estimated trade between the two countries will reach $13 billion “almost overnight,” once relations are fully normalized. One area poised for especially dramatic growth is the tech sector.
For innovation to flourish in the 21st century global economy, broadband communications is a critical element. Widespread broadband deployment promotes innovation and job creation — Cuba must focus its limited resources in this area.
Today only five percent of Cubans have unfettered Internet access. And while smartphones are a status symbol, Cubans can’t do much with them besides send texts, make calls and play games. Home computers weren’t available Cuba until 2008, and even then they came with an $800 price tag that was 40 times the average Cuban’s monthly salary.
President Obama has said the U.S. embargo, imposed in 1961, has denied Cubans access to technology enabling the free flow of information that has empowered individuals around the globe. But that’s only part of the problem.
Havana could have imported the information and communications technology the rest of the developed world takes for granted from Europe, Asia or even Canada, had the Castro brothers wanted the Cuban people to have access before now. Addressing a Cuban TV audience during his March trip to the island, Obama called on the government in Havana to unleash the “full potential” of the nation and its people by opening the country to free expression and communication.
The increased telecommunications connections between the U.S. and Cuba that Obama has authorized means businesses will be able to sell goods that enable Cubans to communicate more easily with U.S. and other countries. Open access to communications — particularly Internet access — will dramatically improve the lives of the Cuban people, increase productivity and employment at home, and bridge communities across the globe.
To enable innovation and job creation to flourish, the Cuban government must prioritize the deployment of widespread state-of-the-art broadband. Why? Because all other modernization efforts — from tourism to trade, transportation, to health care — will depend on robust Internet connectivity.
Now is not the time for baby step-adoption by Havana in information and communications technology, but for bold action — not only because Cuba can make significant economic gains by taking these bold measures, but because doing so would keep the normalization process moving forward, regardless of what happens politically in the U.S. in this presidential-election year.
More, Havana needs to find employment for graduates of its technical colleges and universities. Cuban college graduates are poised to cultivate a spirit of entrepreneurship and develop the skills they need to either start their own businesses (such as developing software and apps) or work for U.S. and other foreign companies seeking a foothold on the island.
Cuba is among the poorest countries in the region. Still, the government “invests 1.17 percent of GDP in technological research and development, on a par with Israel and about 30 times more than India,” according to the Harvard International Review, which dubbed Cuba “Silicon Island.”
In addition to importing tech infrastructure to its people, Cuba would benefit from exporting its STEM-related talent to other countries with more vibrant environments for innovation.
The technology industry supports the president’s efforts to normalize U.S.-Cuban relations, because improved relations will help Cuban citizens unleash the entrepreneurial spirit that’s been stifled by Havana’s current sclerotic system. Just this spring, homesharing leader Airbnb declared Cuba the “fastest-growing market in the world,” offering 4,000 homes for visitors to a country with only about 63,000 hotel rooms.
Too deliberate an approach — one that fails to take advantage of leapfrogging technologies, or worse returns to the status quo ante — would only ensure Cuba continues to lag the rest of the developed world. The long-suffering Cuban people deserve better.
Gary Shapiro is president and CEO of the Consumer Technology Association (CTA)™, the U.S. trade association representing more than 2,400 consumer technology companies, and author of the New York Times best-selling books, Ninja Innovation: The Ten Killer Strategies of the World’s Most Successful Businesses and The Comeback: How Innovation Will Restore the American Dream. His views are his own. Connect with him on Twitter: @GaryShapiro
