United States Cuba Policy & Business Blog
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Friday, January 29, 2010

United States Cuba Relations - U.S. Cuba Telecom? - The Elephant in the Room Still

On January 21st, the FCC issued a Public Notice (www.fcc.gov Document DA 10-112) modifying the process to accept applications for service to Cuba and related matters.
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While this is a positive step and intends to improve the environment hypothetically to do business, it is still actually toxic for U.S. businesses. The notice misses the elephant in the room– As long as Cuba cannot get paid normally and without fear of seizure of its assets or payments owed to it in the U.S., they will not do any telecom business with us. The only way to make that happen is to take Cuba off the terror list so the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act no longer hinders business dealings and shuts down the Cuba lawsuit cottage industry. This is blocking more normal business and fair prices. Right now, millions in telecom and internet revenue are being lost and Americans and Cubans who want to have normal conversations and internet access with each other are being hindered.
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