With the entry into force of Resolution 116/2021 of the Central Bank of Cuba (BCC), published on March 10 this year in the Official Gazette of the Republic, The Cuban authorities could turn the communications monopoly, ETECSA, into a new route for sending American remittances to the island.
The new provision of the BCC authorizes the transformation of the balance of mobile phones into electronic money, with which collection and payment services can be made using a mobile wallet that is associated with the cell line contracted with the Transfermóvil platform.
According to the Resolution, the balance of the phone, which cannot exceed 5,000 Cuban pesos, and transactions are not allowed to exceed 1,500, can be used to buy from shops that accept it as a means of payment on the Transfermóvil platform, for make balance transfers between purses and transfers to bank accounts.
Meanwhile, the balance of a mobile phone could be transferred to the mobile wallet, and from there to a magnetic card, from which it could be withdrawn in cash, Which can turn it into a new remittance mechanism.
Following the publication of this Resolution in the Official Gazette, ETECSA has 30 working days to adapt its new license as a “non-financial entity that provides support services to financial institutions in the national territory” and deliver the documentation to the CBC Secretariat.
Computer engineer Jorge Noris Martínez, interviewed by Yucabyte, Stated that the implementation of mobile wallets may be affected by the same shortcomings of virtual stores, as in cases of high concurrence could collapse due to communication problems of the payment gateway with servers of the banks.
The greatest difficulty that Cubans will encounter in receiving remittances through this channel is that mobile wallets only receive CUP, so dollars sent from abroad would be automatically converted into the national currency using the rate set by the Cuban authorities, much more devalued than that of the informal market.
Following the suspension of the services of the American company Western Union with the Island at the end of last November, and due to the sanctions of the American Government on the platform of American International Services (AIS), sending mobile balance through ETECSA could be the only legal way to send remittances from the US country to Cuba.