Internet affordability in Cuba is among the lowest in the world (ranked 130th in the world). The government is committed to providing affordable Internet services throughout the country. Due to the lower population density in suburban and rural areas in developing countries, traditional solutions result in higher costs per subscriber, which discourages operators from investing in these areas, thus maintaining, and increasing inter-regional inequality. At the same time, other local financing initiatives prioritize the reduction of capital expenditures, leading to a rapid increase in operating costs and quickly making them unsustainable. The optimization of cognitive radio based wireless networks, enabling a dynamic access to the spectrum in the ultra-high frequency (UHF) band, will lead to a lower Total Cost of network Ownership (TCO) of broadband technologies in these areas. The overall objective of this project is to
accelerate cost-effective Internet access solutions for the Cuban population by optimizing network key performance indicators related to CAPEX and OPEX.