Cuba lowers mobile data prices for students after backlash over increased rates, as citizens face inflation, shortages, and limited access to affordable internet.

Cuba announced it would start providing more student-friendly mobile internet data plans at a steeply discounted cost after a first-rate increase caused indignation on an island already struggling with skyrocketing inflation and shortages of necessities.

According to Swedish telecoms major Ericsson, state-run telecom provider ETECSA this week capped subsidized data plans, which were offered at a deep discount of 360 pesos for 6 gigabytes, which is less than a third of the average monthly usage per smartphone of 21.6 gigabytes worldwide.

The cost of an extra three megabytes then skyrockets to 3,360 pesos, more than half of the average monthly salary of 5,839 pesos, according to recently revealed figures. In an attempt to access the money of family members who have moved overseas and want to stay in touch with their loved ones, many plans are only available in dollars, a currency that many Cubans cannot afford.

ETECSA gave students an extra 6 gigabytes on Monday night, raising their total to 12 gigabytes at the same discounted price of 360 pesos, since the price hike for the new data packages has made them unaffordable for many Cubans.

The ongoing dispute in Cuba over data plan costs coincides with the communist-run government's desperate efforts to raise money during the island's greatest economic crisis since Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution. In a nation with among of the worst internet connection speeds in the world, according to online bandwidth measurement tool speedtest.net, the government claims that fee increases are required to upgrade deteriorating telecommunications infrastructure.