“Two recharges with good in one month, must be very bad money,” says Lazaro Miguel, a 27-year-old who makes a living in Havana by updating the mobile operating system and selling vouchers for the cell telephony. So far this year, its work has multiplied because the state telecommunications monopoly Etecsa has launched two offers of recharges each month from abroad with additional bonus.
“Usually a monthly offer was made on significant days or holidays, but now in less than 30 days two are issued and that is that they are desperate for fresh currency,” says the young entrepreneur who shares a small table at the foot of a staircase with another owner also dedicated to mobile telephony in Central Havana, very close to Plaza de Carlos III.
“When there is recharge with bonds from abroad we won well but now with monetary unification it is difficult to calculate how much we will really have for ourselves,” he warns. To buy these offers you need to have an international card, Visa, Mastercard or another denomination, which allow you to make purchases on internet payment gateways.
“When there is recharge with bonds from abroad we won well but now with monetary unification it is difficult to calculate how much we will really have for ourselves”
Lázaro Miguel has a brother in Madrid who, together with a friend, have devised a simple service. “They offer to deliver remittances in pesos at the door of customers’ house in Cuba.” In Spain they charge these remittances in euros and use the money to buy telephone top-ups, which Llàtzer Miguel resells in pesos on the island. These pesos, minus the commission charged by the two brothers and the friend, will be given to relatives in Cuba.
The triangulation of remittance-reload-remittance money is a common business that has gained strength on the island after the withdrawal of Western Union, the main financier that deals with channeling the money that emigrants sent to their families in the ‘Illa. Now, with the closure of this company, popular creativity has appealed to digital currency, bank transfers and the use of telephone top-ups as a way to get cash.
According to calculations made by an expert who participated in negotiations with Etecsa, in 2015 this company obtained a total gross revenue of about 260 million dollars. After deducting expenses (40 million), the monopoly was left with a net profit of 220 million. That was five years ago, and according to the same source, the profitability of the state monopoly, which keeps its revenue a secret, has grown substantially since then.
The company seems to have discovered a new vein with the management of emigrant remittances. On March 10 it was published in the Official Gazette of the Republic Resolution 116/2021 of the Central Bank of Cuba (BCC), which paves the way to turn the communications monopoly into a new path for sending remittances to the island.
With the new resolution, natural and legal persons will be able to interact with their bank accounts and make payments on national e-commerce platforms from their mobile phones.
In the text of the new legislation it is clear that Etecsa asked the BCC for a “modification of the license granted” previously for its management of payments and thus “include among the activities authorized to develop, the enabling a mobile wallet as part of the Transfermóvil platform operation “. With the new resolution, natural and legal persons will be able to interact with their bank accounts and make payments on national e-commerce platforms from their mobile phones.
Etecsa has not yet provided many details about its new service and the legal document also does not clarify all the gaps in the announcement, it seems, the money is recharged as a balance from abroad and is reflected in pesos the mobile line, can be used to pay for basic services and buy combos on digital platforms.
It is specified that the income in the mobile wallet will be based on “the magnetic cards associated with the bank accounts” on the island and “the balance they have associated with their mobile phone service”. The resolution also makes it clear that the use of money will be solely electronic.
Around March 8, Women’s Day, the state monopoly pushed for one of its well-known top-up offers with bonds included. Each month, Etecsa promotes for several days the possibility of buying balance from abroad to mobile customers on the island, but these options are not available to residents within the island, although there is no shortage of tricks for have access to them.
“You pay me in Cuban pesos and I recharge you in dollars,” offers an ingenious casual trader in several ads on classified sites. “For 800 CUP I put 500 balance + 1 GB bonus + 50 minutes + 50 SMS,” he explains in the text referring to a WhatsApp account “for more details.”
“Not all dollars are the same, some are more dollars than others”
“Not all dollars are the same, there are more dollars than others,” warns Fonseca, a telecommunications agent who offers his services on one of the busiest avenues in downtown Havana, Reina Street. “People come with their card to MLC (Freely convertible currency) to see if he can recharge with good, but these fools don’t work, they have to be the ones outside, the cool ones “.
With the magnetic cards of Cuban banks, all state-owned, it is not possible to buy refills with vouchers that are sold through digital portals. These offers are not even marketed at Etecsa offices for customers of national bank accounts in foreign currency. “You have to buy them with Visa, Mastercard or other cards but foreign,” reiterates a worker from the monopoly office in the town of Guanabo, east of Havana.
The new e-wallet service may not solve this difficulty because it will only initially allow payments in Cuban pesos within the country, but it is a hope for those seeking to boost virtual money mobility without going through long queues at banks or ATMs. automatic.
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