- Chapter #8 of Fonoma’s “Internet in Cuba” series
A couple of years ago, a report published by Speedtest spread quickly through the Cuban press. That report placed Cuba as the country with the second-best internet speed in Latin America, behind only Uruguay.
Countries with more developed telecommunications sectors, such as Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile, appeared to lag behind the 28.35 megabits per second (Mbps) that Speedtest assigned to the largest island in the Antilles. Even respected international media such as the British BBC echoed the report, while users on the island looked at numbers that felt far from their reality with disbelief.
The fine print of the study said that only 300 speed tests are needed to assign a value to an entire country. At that time, 4G commercialization was beginning in some provinces, and users with access to the new technology often measured connection speed on platforms such as Speedtest or Fast , owned by Netflix. So Cuba’s statistics reflected a minority.
Internet speed in Cuba#
Today, the ranking from the same platform places the island in a more logical position, at number 102 out of 138 countries where measurements were taken. The statistics, from the end of 2021, assign Cuba a speed of 17.07 Mbps for mobile data connections.
What is strange is that in Latin America and the Caribbean, Cuba appears in 15th place among the 23 listed countries. It still ranks above countries such as Chile, Colombia, and Panama. But are these numbers real?
The ranking published by Speedtest, a site run by Ookla, one of the world’s most recognized companies in internet analysis and metrics, includes only speed tests performed during one month. It does not specify the location, device, or network used. In short, the data is too random.
What is the speed of mobile data in Cuba?#
Fonoma carried out a study to get a more precise measurement of internet speed in Cuba and show the differences between 3G and 4G networks.
To ensure diversity in the sample, data was collected in more than 30 municipalities over 18 months, between July 2020 and January 2022, with ten different phone brands: Samsung, Xiaomi, Huawei, iPhone, Sony, LG, Motorola, Alcatel, Pixel, and Fly.
About 210 tests were performed: 130 on the 4G/LTE network, including 10 on 4G Plus, and 80 on 3G, across 32 municipalities in the country’s 15 provinces. The study placed more emphasis on the capital, where more than one test was carried out in each municipality.
The result was that the average mobile data speed in Cuba is 13.15 Mbps, with a difference of 17.83 Mbps between users with 4G access and those limited to 3G. Tests on 4G averaged 19.94 Mbps, while 3G tests reached only 2.11 Mbps.
The maximum daytime speed reported on 4G was 77.30 Mbps, measured with an iPhone in Playa municipality at 12:30 p.m. At 4 a.m., it reached 149.09 Mbps with a Xiaomi in Arroyo Naranjo. On 3G, the highest speed was 12.46 Mbps, with another Xiaomi in Playa.
If Cuba were relocated in the same Ookla ranking using these results, it would fall to 123rd in the world and second to last in Latin America and the Caribbean, ahead only of Venezuela at 5.88 Mbps. It would also be 16.40 Mbps below the global average of 29.55 Mbps.
These numbers are not absolute, because tests would be needed in every territory. Still, Fonoma’s study is the most precise known measurement to date of mobile data speed in Cuba.
What is the speed of Nauta Hogar?#
Mobile data is not the only source of internet access. In Cuba, according to information published in October 2021 by ETECSA, 224,600 people access cyberspace through Nauta Hogar. For these users, slow connection is part of daily life.
Cuba ranks 177th among 178 countries analyzed by Speedtest in its speed report for fixed connections. At 1.94 Mbps, it is ahead only of Afghanistan, which is last at 1.70 Mbps.
In this case, Ookla’s ranking includes 30 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Chile stands out in second place worldwide with 187.50 Mbps. Venezuela, at 7.19 Mbps, again accompanies Cuba as one of the region’s most delayed countries. Haiti, the poorest country in the area, is above Cuba in both mobile data speed, at 13.91 Mbps, and fixed connections, at 13.36 Mbps.
The global average for fixed broadband speed is 59.75 Mbps, leaving Cuba 57.81 Mbps below it.
How can you measure internet speed?#
If you want to measure your connection speed through mobile data, WiFi, or fixed broadband, visit one of these sites:
All of them show latency, the time it takes data to move through the network, along with upload and download speeds.
Fonoma is a service for recharges to Cuba:
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