HAVANA, Dec. 13 (UPI) — The state-run Telecommunications Company of Cuba, or ETECSA, and Alphabet Inc. have signed a deal that will enable the U.S. company to install servers to improve connectivity speeds to Google content.
Granma, the Cuban government’s official media agency, said in a statement that ETECSA Executive President Mayra Arevich and Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, signed the deal on Monday.
The agreement will provide greater speed and quality for Google services such as Google Mail (Gmail) and YouTube.
Google’s first venture in Cuba began in 2014, when it launched services such as Google Chrome, Google Play and Google Analytics.
Cuba and Google agreed to the deal on Nov. 23. U.S. President Barack Obamaformally announced his administration was working to normalize relations with Cuba in December 2014. U.S. companies have increased investment in Cuba since the thawing of relations.
