Cell phones hard to get, expensive, for Cubans

Cell phones hard to get, expensive, for Cubans
Aimée Cabrera

HAVANA, Cuba - August (www.cubanet.org) - At half a dollar per minute of
use and 150 to 200 dollars in the black market for the phone itself,
cell phone service is prohibitively expensive for the average Cuban. The
two entities selling cel phone service on the island, Telcel, and Secom,
only offer it to foreigners and to Cubans who are specifically
authorized to have the service. In any case, the service must be paid
for in dollars; pesos are no good here.

Yet, with scarce land lines and often little hope of getting one, some
Cubans who have access to dollars sometimes take a chance on a cell phone.

A young couple who gave up waiting for a land line recently decided to
obtain a cel phone. They managed to find someone who sold them the unit,
with the condition that should there be a problem with the phone, they
need to go through the rightful owner to obtain service.

Still, they say, it's hard to pay that much money and be constantly at
risk that the line could go down and they would lose their investment.
Also, they point out, not everyone has a friend or relative abroad who
will send the required hard currency.

http://www.cubanet.org/CNews/y06/ago06/15e1.htm