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A communications ministry official in Cienfuegos urges communities to help find signal boosters
Cuba's Ministry of Communications restated on November 6 that mobile signal boosters are banned and warned of fines and seizures, while a provincial official called on communities to help locate them, according to Periódico Cubano, drawing on a 14ymedio report.
The Ministry of Communications (Mincom) restated on November 6 that mobile phone signal boosters are banned in Cuba and warned of fines and seizures for anyone breaking the rules. The ministry says the devices interfere with cellular networks, even as public complaints mount over connectivity failures.
The warning coincides with remarks by Pablo Morales Concepción, the ministry's territorial control director in Cienfuegos, who called for communities to be drawn into identifying the people using such equipment, along with customs checks to stop the devices arriving in luggage and parcels, and closer coordination between territorial officials and enforcement bodies. According to the same report, no new legal duty requiring citizens to report their neighbours has been confirmed.
The ban appears in Mincom Resolution 1/2026, published on May 21 in Official Gazette Extraordinary issue 66, which bars the import of mobile signal repeaters, including those meant to improve coverage. The authorities warn of financial penalties and confiscation of the devices, but the November notice did not specify the size of the fines or set out new inspection procedures for private homes.
These devices pick up the signal from a cell tower, amplify it and improve reception in places with poor coverage. When they malfunction they can create interference and disrupt the communications of other users on the same network.
The warning comes as Etecsa struggles to keep its services running. According to figures released by the company itself in January 2025, about half of the country's 5,600 base stations had no backup power, which worsens outages during blackouts. Some users pushed back, demanding better coverage and the option to use certified equipment to fix reception problems at home.
Sources: Periódico Cubano
Data updated: 2026-11-08T16:15:00.000Z