Cuba completes terrestrial switchover
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Cuba completes terrestrial switchover

Following indications that Cuba had activated its first ever subsea internet connection, it is now believed that the country has completed the move from satellite dependence to a purely ground-based solution.

Research firm Renesys said on Sunday that routed paths for data had been inbound to Cuba through a new service provider, Telefónica, since January 14.

A second mode of latency was recorded with reduced delays for internet traffic in the 400ms range.

The firm concluded that this latency was not possible on the country’s entirely satellite-based connections, suggesting that at least half must be coming from the previously inactive ALBA-1 link between Cuba and Venezuela.

On Tuesday at 14:01 UTC Renesys said there was another development, with a new lower latency level of 180 to 220ms recorded.

This is shown on the diagram with A representing the country’s original purely satellite-based connection, B the suspected mixed satellite and terrestrial connection and C suggesting a purely terrestrial solution based on subsea and overland cables.







Renesys believes the change occurred when Cuban network operators altered their routing policy to make ALBA-1 the default path for all outbound traffic from certain Cuban networks.

Reports from Havana indicate that delays for internet traffic have noticeably dropped since the routing policy activated. 

For Capacity's full report on Cuba click here

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