Havana, Cuba.-The Cuban Telecommunications Company (ETECSA) started offering today new discounts on its Internet and Email services.

The discounts will help users visit Cuban websites of cultural and scientific interest, and general information sites, said Beatriz Fernandez, a marketing officer in Etecsa.

As of today, Cubans will pay 1.50 CUC (convertible pesos) an hour for international browsing and 25 cents an hour for surfing national websites.

Etecsa will also be expanding its Nauta email offer with a new package that will thus improve this email service from computers and mobile equipment.

Oscar López Díaz, a specialist in marketing for the Mobile Services Division of Etecsa, explained that this is the beginning of a series of improvements to the service.

Meanwhile, Ana María Méndez, a marketing officer in charge of landline phone services, said the company will shortly begin an ADSL broadband pilot project with 2.000 users in Old Havana. The trial will last for two months, after which the users can keep the service if they want.

As for extending it to other cities, Mendez said Etecsa will assess the result of the project.