Castro rings changes as Cubans get mobile phones

Published on Friday 28 March 2008 21:24

CUBANS will be allowed to buy mobile phones for the first time in the latest step by Raul Castro, the new president, to improve access to consumer goods.

Cuba has the lowest rate of mobile phone use in Latin America. The service had been restricted to foreigners or government officials and employees.

The Cuban telecommunications monopoly ETECSA, a joint venture with Telecom Italia, would begin selling the service to the general public within days, it said in a statement published in the communist party newspaper Granma.

Many Cubans have long wanted access to mobile phones and were hopeful that such a service would be among the first steps taken by the president, who succeeded his ailing brother Fidel Castro as Cuba's first new leader in almost half a century on 24 February.

"This shows there is a change in mentality at the top and recognition that Cuba has to move into the 21st century," a young computer technician said, asking not to be named.

The president began lifting some of the many restrictions on the daily life of Cubans when he took office last month, as he tries to meet popular demands for better living standards in the socialist state.