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Cuba lifting restrictions on mobile phones

18 minutes ago

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba announced on Friday that it would allow unrestricted use of mobile telephones by all Cubans for the first time in the latest step by new President Raul Castro to improve access to consumer goods. ADVERTISEMENT

Cuba has the lowest rate of cellular telephone use in Latin America.

The Cuban telecommunications monopoly ETECSA announced it would begin mobile phone service for the general public in the next few days, in a statement published in the Communist Party newspaper Granma.

"ETECSA is in condition to offer the public mobile phone service," the statement said.

Some Cubans have mobile phone service through foreigners or their work places, which they can now put in their own name, the announcement said.

ETECSA said the new service would be paid for in hard currency in order to fund telecommunications development in Cuba.

(Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Bill Trott)