Google Lays Groundwork for Move Into Cuba

Google Lays Groundwork for Move Into Cuba
By Todd Beamon | Saturday, 13 Jun 2015 10:15 PM

Google is proposing to upgrade Cuba's Internet access — and an executive
is heading to the Communist-controlled island this weekend as a part of
that effort, according to the U.S. State Department.

"We don't know what they've proposed, but we do know they've proposed
something," the State Department official, who asked not to be named,
told Politico.
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The search-engine giant made its proposal to the Cuban government. The
plan comes after President Barack Obama's December announcement of a
thaw in relations and the recent pledge by Raúl Castro's government to
bring Internet access to all Cubans by 2020.

Brett Perlmutter, a New York-based Google executive, is a member of the
company's Ideas division that seeks to help solve some of the world's
largest technology problems, according to Politico.
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Perlmutter will spend five days in Havana with about a dozen other U.S.
business representatives and "will focus on helping the Cuban government
think through their publicly-stated goal of improving Internet access,"
a Google spokesperson said.

The company, based in Menlo Park, Calif., declined to disclose its other
efforts in Cuba. The trip is being organized by the Council of the
Americas, a trade group founded a half-century ago by David Rockefeller,
according to Politico.

About 5 percent of Cuba's population has Internet access, and extremely
few have cellphone service, Politico reports.
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State Department officials said other technology companies have shown
interest in working to upgrade the island's 2G wireless coverage.

Source: Google Lays Groundwork for Move Into Cuba -
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/google-moves-into-cuba/2015/06/13/id/650415/