谷歌與古巴簽署網際網路合作協議

Google signed an agreement with the Cuban government on Monday granting internet users on the Communist-run island quicker access to its branded content.

Eric Schmidt, chairman of Google's parent company, signed the deal with the president of state telecommunications monopoly ETECSA. It grants Cubans speedy access to the Google Global Cache network, which stores content from sites such as Gmail and YouTube on servers located closer to end users.

In a country where public internet access is limited to slow and expensive Wi-Fi hot spots, it was not clear how the deal would affect service in the short term.

The Google deal comes as officials in Havana and Washington are working to wrap up pending commercial accords before President Barack Obama leaves office next month.谷歌星期一與古巴政府簽署協議，讓古巴的網際網路使用者能更快地接觸到谷歌提供的內容。

谷歌母公司總裁埃裡克∙施密特與國有的古巴通訊公司負責人簽署了這項協議。協議讓古巴的網際網路使用者能更快地接觸到谷歌全球快取網路，該網路將Gmail和Youtube等網站上的內容儲存在距離使用者更近的伺服器上。

古巴目前公共上網只限於低速昂貴的WIFI 網點，所以目前還不清楚，這一協議短期內會對網際網路服務起到什麼樣的效果。

美國總統奧巴馬下個月卸任。古巴和美國官員正在抓緊時間完成洽談當中的商業協議。