By Dave Sherwood and Mario Fuentes
HAVANA (Reuters) – Cuban students clamored on Wednesday for further concessions to roll back a rate hike on internet data, saying a decision on Monday to offer them discounted access did not go far enough.
Students of at least one department at the University of Havana, the country’s largest, called on their peers to skip classes in protest of the price hikes, which have been rebuked across the Caribbean island nation.
Reuters spoke with several students outside the university on Wednesday who confirmed the calls for a class boycott in some departments.
They said the situation remained tense on campus, and the issues unresolved, despite concessions on Monday from state-run telecommunications firm Etecsa that offered deeper data plan discounts for university students.
Haydee Fernandez, a 28-year-old student, said the price increases were unreasonable.
“I can’t study if I don’t have up-to-date (online) information,” she said. “If it’s necessary to stop classes, they should be stopped until there’s a logical response to these needs.”
Four students said attendance appeared largely normal on Wednesday but that many students continued to threaten walkouts.
Hany Blanco, 19, a first-year student, said she would continue going to classes but felt prices needed to be rolled back immediately.
“The old prices were accessible but now it’s gotten very difficult.”
Etecsa on Friday capped subsidized mobile data plans – offered for a steeply discounted rate of 360 pesos (less than $1 on the informal market exchange) – at six gigabytes, well shy of Cuba’s average monthly usage of 10 gigabytes, according to state data.
Prices for an additional three gigabytes soar to 3,360 pesos ($9), more than Cuba’s monthly minimum wage of 2,100 pesos ($6).
The price hikes – billed by the government as necessary to upgrade ailing infrastructure – have touched a nerve in Communist-run Cuba, where inflation has soared in recent years.
The University of Havana acknowledged the debate over the hikes but warned in a statement late on Tuesday that it would not tolerate disruptions to its classes.
Cuba rolled out widespread mobile internet in 2018, well behind much of the world. Cellphone data use on the island has soared since, with over 7.5 million users.
(Reporting by Dave Sherwood and Mario Fuentes in Havana, additional reporting by Alien Fernandez and Nelson Acosta; Editing by Rod Nickel)
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