Guess What? A Faster Google Is Coming To Cuba

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt poses beside a picture of late Cuban political leader Fidel Castro during the signing of a bilateral agreement with Cuban national telecom provider (ETECSA) in Havana, on December 12, 2016. (Photo credit: YAMIL LAGE/AFP/Getty Images)

By NAN Contributor

News Americas, HAVANA, Cuba, Thurs. Dec. 15, 2016: Guess who’s coming to Cuba? It’s Internet giant Google!

The global entity says data for Google services will be stored in Cuba, under a deal announced this week between the company and the Cuban government, according to Associated Press reports.

Alphabet Chairman Eric Schmidt signed the deal with ETECSA, Cuba’s state-run telecommunications provider, in Havana on Monday.

“Cubans who already have access to the internet and want to use our services can expect to see an improvement,” said Marian Croak, vice president of access strategy and emerging markets, and Brett Perlmutter, head of strategy and operations at Google Cuba, in a blog post.

The deal is expected to decrease load times for Google services like Gmail and YouTube but sadly, speeds for non-Google services will not be affected.

Previously, data for Google services had to travel through Venezuela before reaching Cuba. President Obama’s moved  to normalize US relations with Cuba has made this deal possible but it is unclear how relations between the two countries and the deal could change under the Donald Trump administration. Trump has indicated a roll back of the Obama Cuba moves.