The Cuban Telecommunications Company S.A. (Etecsa) announced on Thursday significant disruptions to the telecommunications network caused by Hurricane Rafael, which recently swept through the country. According to a report on the state-run outlet Cubadebate, the provinces that suffered the most from the storm’s winds are Artemisa, Havana, and Mayabeque. Artemisa, where the Category 3 hurricane made landfall, bears the brunt of the devastation.
As of 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, Etecsa reported that over 540 cell tower sites across these three provinces were out of service, resulting in a 77% outage in the mobile network. Additionally, more than 340 integrated cabinets providing landline services were affected, leaving over 53,000 users without access.
The impact was not solely due to power outages; the storm's winds also inflicted damage on the telecommunications infrastructure, including severed fiber-optic cables. Two mobile towers were reported down in the municipalities of Mariel and Guanajay, while both fixed and mobile services in the municipality of Güira de Melena were entirely disrupted due to fiber cuts near telecommunications centers.
Recovery Efforts Underway
Specialized teams from Pinar del Río are currently assisting in Artemisa with recovery and restoration efforts. Etecsa has stated that they are still assessing the full extent of the damage, indicating that the level of disruption could change as evaluations continue.