Cuba lifts cellphone ban

2008-03-28 20:11

Havana - President Raul Castro's government has authorised ordinary Cubans to obtain cellphones, a luxury previously reserved for those who worked for foreign firms or held key posts with the communist-run state.

Friday's decree officially lifts a major restriction on daily life in Cuba. Its the kind of small freedom many on the island have been hoping Raul Castro would embrace since taking over the presidency from his older brother Fidel last month.

Some Cubans previously ineligible for cellular phones had already obtained them by having foreigners sign contracts in their names, but mobile phones are not nearly as common in Cuba as elsewhere in Latin America or the world.

- AP