It was with its sights fixed on the communities far from the provincial capital and with less forms of connectivity that the Territorial Division of ETECSA in Ciego de Ávila was able to be fairer and generate a greater impact amid the limitations that 2022 brought.

“Despite being a tense year,” explained Nelson Guerra Mesa, acting director, “there was growth in the number of services. Of the nine radio bases installed in the year, six were located in the communities of Miraflores, Yarual, Vicente, Los Naranjos, Corea and Mamonal, in Majagua, which ended a few days ago”.

And certainly, investment in new radio bases is one of the company's priorities with a view to improving the quality of services, especially if one takes into account that, according to Oliver Medina Rodríguez, head of the Network Administration Group, the continuous Electrical effects during the year affected services, mainly mobile.

Fortunately, "stability has been achieved in the parameters indicated by our company, and the necessary maintenance has been completed, which will allow us to grow during 2023 in towns such as Punta Alegre, Colorado and Baraguá."

It is not an easy task given the enormous growth in traffic on the 4G (47 percent compared to 2021) and 3G (21 percent compared to 2021) networks, while the infrastructure has not been able to grow at the same time.

This is influenced by the greater accessibility to mobile data internet rates, and the constant monthly promotions, which have even brought flat rates at night. If all the traffic is added to the blackouts that affected radio bases, there is an explanation for the complaints about low navigation speed during part of the year.

On the other hand, the Nauta Hogar service continues to be one of those with the greatest demand, according to Aleida Sotolongo Díaz, head of the Commercial Department, with a total of 10,000 clients before the end of the year and the possibility of increasing capacities in La Yuca, Vicente and Camino de Jiquí, for the next one.

This is due, in part, to the advancement of basic services and the installation of base stations in those areas. In the communities of La Yuca, Canaleta, Miraflores and Yarual alone, 3,000 fixed telephone lines were sold in the year. Meanwhile, mobile lines reach almost 300,000, with approximately 10,000 new customers in 2022.

Eight people's councils in the province are still registered as lacking forms of connectivity, according to Aslan Santana Vázquez, head of the Investment Department. Nevertheless, just in September, this newspaper reported 12, and the change for its inhabitants is much more significant than a simple "four."

In this "atypical" and "tense" year, the approximate investment of three million pesos each month made it possible to maintain services in adverse situations, the goal for 2023 is to improve them, and that is also to grow.