Google to provide Cuba with high speed internet access

Cuba has taken a further step to improve relations with the United States and bring itself closer to the western world by signing a server deal with Google to gain faster internet speeds.

State communications company Etecsa will install Google servers on the island to store content such as popular YouTube videos and services such as Gmail, allowing the content to be delivered more quickly to citizens who had hitherto relied on a data connection to Venezuela.

Currently the majority of Cubans have to use public wi-fi hotspots in order to gain access to the internet, but the new deal will allow connection speeds to improve

During Barack Obama's presidency the previously antagonistic relations between the two countries have thawed, and the Google deal is the latest, and most likely the last, effort by the outgoing leader to continue that trend.

The opening of embassies in both Havana and Washington DC, as well as the beginning of commercial flights between the two states.

It is unclear what attitude president-elect Donald Trump will take towards Cuba, having given mixed signals so far during his successful election campaign and subsequent speeches.

"This deal allows Etecsa to use our technology to reduce latency by caching some of our most popular high bandwidth content like YouTube videos at a local level," said Google in a statement.