Avenida Italia, from a popular Havana street to a digital highway
Within Havana’s Avenida Italia project, which since 2019 has been pursuing the urban rehabilitation of this popular Havana artery as a result of cooperation between Italy and Cuba, technologies occupy a special place.
Autopista Digital (Digital Highway) is the name of the initiative that, together with the Cuban Telecommunications Company (Etecsa), will provide that street with a broadband telecommunications infrastructure based on fiber optic technologies.
According to Michele Curto, the project leader, the Avenida will have fast connectivity to support the data exchange of current and future services through the implementation of a Gigabyte Passive Optical Network. This, he added, will provide Triple Play services (voice, data and television) to business customers, homes and other facilities in the area.
The Digital Highway also contemplates coworking, an incubator for innovative digital projects, which takes on the challenge of sustainably developing the endogenous potential of the Centro Habana municipality, where the project is located.
Etecsa will be in charge of the technical survey, while the Italian Agency for Cooperation will provide the equipment so that, once installed by the Cuban forces, the Digital Highway will become a reality, Curto stressed.
From Reina to Malecón, fiber optics will be deployed along this street, with a download speed up to 20 times faster and each user will be able to reach a level of efficiency comparable to that of more advanced countries.
Curto affirmed that the installation of Wi-Fi along the three kilometers of the Avenue will bring with it a high social impact, since it will offer the possibility of Internet access to all passers-by, residents and business people in the area. We will move from a technological opportunity to a plurality of participation that will result in the development of the Avenue, he said.
The implementation of the Digital Highway will allow the link with other areas, since from spaces such as the America Theater and the Casa de la Música (both located on Avenida Italia) and through the potential of technology, the enjoyment of Cuban culture can be expanded.
Autopista Digital will coexist in an environment based on the principles of circular economy, culture and digital creativity, as well as the valorization of products from traditional, organic and sustainable agricultural production chains.
The presentation of the project was attended by Mayra Arevich Marín, Minister of Communications, as well as authorities of the Government of Havana and the Centro Habana municipality.
