Cubans Allowed Cell Phones

Cubans will now be legally allowed to own cell phones through the state telecom monopoly.

Cuba’s new President, Raul Castro, has been making some changes, but one of the biggest came quietly last week. He altered the rules, and now Cubans can legally own cell phones through theisland’s telecom monopoly ETECSA.   The service is expected to be offered imminently.   Some Cubans do already own and use cell phones, butthey’re a small minority, since they’ve usually had to go carefully through foreigners to obtain one.   The announcement was made in Cuba’s official newspaper, Granma, but of course, there’s a catch: the pre-paid service must be paid for in foreign currency, something to which most Cubans have no access.  Castro has already eased a ban on a lot of electrical appliances, but there was no sense of change of restricted Internet access.