News
AT&T reportedly on cusp of reaching mobile roaming agreement with state-owned telco.
Verizon this week struck an interconnection deal with Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba (ETECSA), following in the footsteps of Sprint as trade restrictions ease between the U.S. and the Communist state.
The agreement, between state-owned ETECSA and Verizon Partner Solutions, will initially allow fixed-line phone calls through direct interconnection between both countries.
It will become effective "once implementation and technical tests have been performed by both operators," said ETECSA, in a Spanish news release on Monday.
It is the first time since 1999 that landline calls have been routed directly between the U.S. and Cuba. For the past 16 years, calls have been routed via other countries, making them expensive and poor quality.
However, the U.S. in January 2015 lifted restrictions on domestic telcos doing business with ETECSA, as part of a broader push to improve ties with its former adversary.
Verizon’s deal comes not long after Sprint established a mobile roaming agreement with ETECSA in November 2015.
Meanwhile, The Wall Street Journal reported late last week that AT&T is on the cusp of also signing a roaming deal with ETECSA as well.
