“I just managed to send the message.” “I don’t know what you posted because I can’t see the photo.” “Facebook doesn’t load at my house.” The internet speed in Cuba has always been poor, but some users have noticed that it’s getting worse in the past year. Messages like these were randomly taken from comments on social media. Is it the progressive slowness of Etecsa’s connection a fact or a collective suggestion?

It could almost be considered a rhetorical question. On February 26, 2025, Cuba’s telecommunications monopoly advised its customers, as a temporary measure, to set their phones to 2G frequency. “This way, the connection will be more stable, and you will be able to receive calls and SMS, and also use Transfermóvil,” a payment gateway.

The reason the company gave for this advice could be related to power outages: “Due to the current electricity situation and because most of Etecsa’s radio bases don’t have energy backup, these turn off, and the few that remain operational get saturated due to the high demand they have to handle.” The company clarified that this frequency was not designed for internet browsing.

Currently, the situation seems critical, but let’s take a moment to look at the recent past and check if it was always like this.

Between July 2020 and January 2022, the media outlet Fonoma carried out speed tests using Speedtest and Fast tools. The island’s average speed was 13.15 MBps (megabytes per second). The study demonstrated the difference between 4G and 3G users; the former had an average speed of almost 20 MBps, while the latter was far behind, with only 2.11 MBps.

While the use of 4G is not uncommon in the country, the number of 3G users is much higher, especially between 2020 and 2022. With the above data, it can be stated that the most frequent connection speed at that time was 2 MBps.

The speed depends on factors such as the device, the time of day, and the location where the measurement was taken. The experience can vary slightly from one user to another. The study was conducted in 30 municipalities across the country, with more than one test done per municipality, mainly focusing on the capital.

The measurements are close to those made by the Data Reportal platform. In 2021, they estimated an average speed of 15.5 MBps, while in 2022, they recorded 5.74 MBps (a 62% decrease). The decline was evident.

In 2023, the Ookla platform, which offers the Speedtest tool, placed the average speed in Cuba at 5.44 MBps. It was a slight decrease compared to the previous year. Looking at this chart created by the Inventario Project, we see how the deterioration was progressive, with a slight uptick in November before decreasing again in December.

The Cuban X Cellmapper account took a measurement on November 30, 2023, using the Speedster tool. The upload speed was 7.68 MBps, and the download speed was 8.24 MBps. The test was done using 4G frequency.

In 2024, the X Diktyon account ran several tests. In February, the upload speed was 4.47 MBps, and the download speed was 4.25 MBps. In October 2024, Diktyon reported that a user in Santiago de Cuba sent them a test with upload speeds of 0.82 MBps and download speeds of 0.38 MBps. In the comments, many people complained that their personal tests rarely reached 1 MBps. Ookla ranked Cuba, for several months of the year, as the country with the worst mobile data connection in the world. Some months, the island was rated as the second worst country in this regard.

To get an idea, Speedtest recommends a minimum of 2 MBps for basic tasks and 10 MBps for tasks requiring HD.

The data is no better for the fixed broadband internet network. According to Ookla, the country is currently the worst in the world in this regard. Even though it slightly increased compared to the previous measurement in January 2025, it currently stands at 3.04 MBps.

In December 2022, the Cuban government announced the installation of an undersea fiber optic cable that was supposed to improve the broadband connection for Cubans. The cable would connect the island to Martinique and was expected to be operational by April 2023. Almost two years later, little to nothing is known about this cable.

The dissatisfaction of Etecsa’s customers grows due to the high prices for a slow and often useless connection for basic browsing. It is also a service that can be completely cut off or restricted when citizen protests occur.

The justification from the authorities for the poor connection lies in the power outages, which are becoming more frequent and last longer. If the relationship between these two situations persists—as all signs indicate—it can be inferred that the connection for Cubans will continue to be the worst in the world.

This article was translated into English from the original in Spanish.