Netflix Comes to Cuba
techcrunch.com
techcrunch.com
I've not sampled the connections available to government officials, but until Cuba gets a huge overhaul (read, installation) of a proper internet infrastructure, and peering to multiple countries, they won't be able to make use of this.
Just feels like giant PR fluff, it would have been interesting to see them offer cheaper and lower bit-rate service for Cubans that won't completely saturate their networks.
- Average monthly wage in Cuba is $17
- 2.8m people with access to internet (26%)
- 3.3m people with computer access (31%) "at home, work or school"
- "A modest computer with a monitor costs $722 in Cuban stores, and at least $550 on the black market", so I suspect more at work/school than at home
- "The country has 53 broadband internet accounts today"
[1] http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/09/netflix-launche...
But there is a subset of the population earning good tips working in the tourist industry and receiving funds from family living outside of Cuba
If illegal, it certainly is not enforced.
According to Numbeo.com [1] a cost of basic utilities (Electricity, Heating, Water, Garbage) for 85m2 Apartment is ~$6.09/month. A one-way ticket on local transport is $0.04. I've picked two that jumped out at me as crazily cheap compared to places like the US/UK, but looking down that list I don't know if living on $17/month is doable. But without fully understanding the environment/economy... it's a lot more complicated than just thinking that $17 could never be enough to live on.
[1] http://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?coun...
More interesting is the tight range. ISTR that it was about $4-$25 when I visited there in 2002. Today it's $9-$30.
> The country has 53 broadband internet accounts today, according to Kelly.
edit: Definitely 5,300. Note at the bottom reads "This story was amended on 9 February to correct the number of broadband accounts in Cuba. There are 5,300."
If this is symbolic it means netflix is willing to do things which don't go toward profit but are willing to do 'symbolic' things. Meaning they are okay with not making money, if that thing fits their ideology --which is fine, great, but it just means there are other things which affect them beside a motive for profits or altruism or free expression, etc.
It's like Caterpillar saying, we're going to build an asteroid-digger.
Or the WWF deciding to build a do-do bird conservation area.
Sure, even if 100% of Cuba's broadbrand subscribers signed up it's an insignificant amount to Netflix, but for the low cost they may well think of it as PR and/or marketing (and/or looking ahead to a day when maybe Cuba could give them enough revenue to care about - though seems unlikely to me), not just for ideological reasons.
1) There is only one ISP in Cuba: Etecsa. Cubans can not buy an Internet account from them to use at home, accounts must be used a special cyber cafes around the island at exorbitant rates by the hour/megabyte: http://www.etecsa.cu/?page=internet_conectividad&sub=interne...
2) Foreign entities, either persons or enterprises can have an interned account, dialup or broadband, See the rates section for "Acceso dedicado" on the same page. from 22 USD a month for 20h at dial up speeds all the way to 30010.00 CUC for 3.4 Mbs. Thats over $30000 USD.
3) Some cubans have dialup accounts either internet or limited access to several national networks on which a proxy can be found (usually not legally) this covers doctors, artists, athletes and others.
4) There is a booming black market for dialup accounts with rates going from 50 to 120 CUC (60 to 140 USD), usually foreigners time sharing their accounts but other type of accounts can be found if you know the right people (illegal and prosecuted).
5) Most universities have internet access with very limited bandwidth (~2mbs) shared among students and professors.
Considering the extremely little bandwidth they have, a homebrew wireless 'cable' from Florida or Mexico would be a game changer for Cuba.
http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/25/cuba-confirms-alba-1-fibe...
Seriously, I check allflicks to see what's new and out of 10 new movies/tvshows almost always 7-8 of them are for kids. They might as well rename their service "Netflix Kids: Germany" or something.
It's one thing only offering a tiny subset of the US catalog but quite another to only add kids stuff. That area has got to be twice or three times the size of the non-kids sections.
Wait, what?
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_in_the_United_States#A...
[2] http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Statistics/Documents/statistics/...
http://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publication...
Refer to page 3, where it is reported that 74.5% of households 25 years and up had some internet subscription (and 73.5% had high-speed access). That's no small number, but you could easily call "3 in 4" short of ubiquitous. Note that many of the remaining households have some form of access to the internet, just not a subscription at home.
U.S. ???