Claudia Márquez Linares, Grupo Decoro
HAVANA, August - In Havana, you can listen to the radio through a telephone,
or pick-up telephone conversations through your radio or TV set; sometimes your
neighbor's conversations come in clearer than the local radio stations.
This is not a new feature or an advance in communications technology; it is
simply another instance of the poor service that customers of the Cuban
telephone company ETECSA complain about constantly.
In spite of a slight increase in the number of lines and telephones in use,
service standards of the joint Cuban-Italian company remain backward and quirky.
The company has stepped up the installation of public and private
telephones, but the service has not kept pace. Most public phones around Havana,
for example, are not in working order. The would-be user typically finds a
screen that reads: 'Only good for emergency calls.' That may mean that the set
is broken or that the coin box is full. ETECSA officials have repeatedly said
they will address the situation, but they have been saying that for years.
Some months ago, the company started selling pre-paid telephone cards in
pesos. The problem is that there are practically no phones that accept the
cards.
In the air-conditioned phone booths ETECSA has placed in high-traffic areas
of the capital, one in five phones takes the local currency, and that's usually
the one with the 'Broken' sign.
In Havana's historic core, the company simply removed the phones that
accepted pesos; customers must pay in dollars to use the remaining ones.
International calls also bring complaints. Cubans must go through an
operator to make calls abroad. Some wags have said that instead of phone
service, the company offers "a classical music service," because
operators put customers on hold with music while they try to connect. Someone
actually connecting in a half-hour, say, is considered lucky.
People try to adapt. A resident who didn't want to give his name said a
woman in his neighborhood always lets him know when she can pick up his
telephone conversations in her old, Caribe-brand TV set.
Versión
original en español
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