Cuba lags region in telecoms, Internet access

Communist Cuba may boast a doctor on every block and schools for all its children, but when it comes to telephones, computers and the Internet it lags behind other countries in the hemisphere, a government report shows. The National Statistics Office released 2008 telecommunications data showing there were 1.4 million telephones, fixed and mobile, in the country of 11.2 million inhabitants. This gave a total density of 12.6 telephones per 100 inhabitants, the lowest in the region, according to the United Nations International Telecommunications Union. Computers were also scarce at just 630,000 and most were believed to be in government offices, health facilities and schools. The report said 13 percent of Cuba's population had Internet access, but in most cases this was to a government Intranet. No data was available for access to the worldwide web, but diplomats and residents say it is severely restricted.