Italy Avenue, Connected by Friendship

Sitting on the wall of Malecón Avenue, a girl with a bohemian air will try to download the soundtrack of her life from YouTube, but the Wi-Fi signal could be weak or spotty there, so she will decide to walk along Avenida Italia. If necessary, she will reach Reina Street, perhaps take a break on a bench in Fe del Valle Park and, if upon arriving at Curita  Park she is missing some essential item, she will retrace her steps to Deuville Hotel, passing by the América Theater and the Havana Music House. In case the announced drizzle appears, she will take shelter on La Época store. Who can say if it’s November and there are planets above her head celebrating the birthday of a city in which she has chosen to stay, love, live...

It's an invented night that could become real in the coming years, when the persistent and contagious love of an Italian for Cuba is expressed in another concrete action: the digital highway of the well-known Galiano Street, whose official name is Avenida Italia.

Italy Avenue...

"Avenida Italia has been a perimeter of our friendship with Cuba for many years, starting at 500 Havana," said Michele Curto, president of the Economic and Cultural Exchange Agency with Cuba, shortly before presenting the project he leads in the recently completed 2024 Computer Fair.

«We started with the beautiful artistic lighting that all capital's residents remember, which we turn on every year and is a symbol of the beauty of this city and of friendship, because in Turin we have a sister of the planetarium placed here. We continued with all the festive activities on Avenida Italia, which took place during the 500th anniversary of Havana, but we could not imagine at that moment what would happen next: the pandemic, the Cuban doctors in Italy, and then the response to this solidarity with the shipment of medicines and lung respirators, that is, a bridge has been consolidated that has had a fundamental reference in Central Havana, on Avenida Italia."

...the Digital Highway...

At this point, Michele has managed to add and conspire with more friends from Cuba and Havana. As the dreams grow, the support of authorities and entities on the island also grows, as well as solidarity multiplies.

«This has allowed us to emerge, with the support of the Italian Agency for Development Collaboration, a project of urban transformation, local development and paradigmatic development for the country, from this environment very important for us, so creative. The Avenida Italia project has three aspects: the creation of a biodistrict, that is, bringing farm products there, based on the work we do with coffee, cocoa, and tropical fruits; a second aspect which is the circular economy, that is working from waste, debris, and a very important technological aspect, which has two legs that will make it run, one, the most important, the digital highway. Michele commented.

...connected by friendship...

«It’s a visionary idea, a strategic alliance between the urban district of Avenida Italia and a large company like ETECSA: a fiber optic cable is being connected from the main cable that crosses the country and the Avenida is being prepared as the first urban environment in Cuba with fiber optic service to the point. We are talking about a digital highway with an extremely wider bandwidth than those currently available in Cuba and the potential for citizens, for public and private actors, to access this band and develop their digital proposal there. This will be returned in local development," predicts the architect of this innovative proposal.

Yeney Fortes Quesada, a specialist from ETECSA Investment Directorate in Havana, confirms that the company "is going to carry out a fiber optic deployment, which will be the support for all the equipment that’s going to be installed, we are going to illuminate the entire area with Wi-Fi." the avenue and provide the FTTH fiber service, which is fiber to the home, including the businesses that are set up there on the avenue.

In other words, our hypothetical bohemian girl, with a Nauta account, could well download the soundtrack of her life from YouTube anywhere in Galiano, as Wilcifredo González Sánchez, head of the Access and Planning group at the Central Level of the Cuban Telecommunications Company: «from Reina to Malecón, a complex of Wifi antennas will be deployed where all users who pass by, who walk, all pedestrians who go along the Avenue will be able to access the service, in the same way that they currently do in the parks. Residents will also be able to use this Wi-Fi connection service.

...like a beam of light...

The specialist also offered details on the fiber optic service to the home: "This deployment will provide many social advantages right now, because the resident who wants to acquire a high-quality bandwidth service, with better features, will be able to have it, in addition to this service being able to be provided to all the businesses that exist there and to coworking, which will be one of the most important elements.

Bad and fast, one could summarize it as a fast Internet project for Galiano Street, however, Wilcifredo González offers us more elements:

«It’s a solution similar to Nauta Hogar, but with better features, greater bandwidth... These solutions are compared to what happens in developed countries. Fiber optics, being a beam of light, allow you to develop much more speed than copper, so, within your apartment, you will have the possibility of connecting more devices, without the connection speed being affected, because the bandwidth is much larger.

...to see the future.

“The first thing is going to be coworking,” Michele assured in his conversation with CubaSí, and he described it immediately:

«Basically, a space that will be able to enjoy this bandwidth and will be made available to young people: a price-friendly desk accessible to any young person who wants to start a business, a TCP, a cooperative or, basically, a project with their friends. The idea is to create an environment, a development habitat, because you will find others in the same condition and a positive environment where they will enjoy this digital advantage. Coworking will be the home of all young people in Cuba who want to develop a project at high speed," he concluded.

The girl on Malecón  Avenue could still call it Galiano, it will matter little when she has traveled with her headphones at full volume on Avenida Italia, the Digital Highway connected by friendship, like a beam of light to see the future.