• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, December 12, 2016

Alphabet Chairman Eric Schmidt signed an agreement with the Cuban government Monday that will grant users on the island quicker access to branded content on the Internet.

The deal signed with Mayra Arevich Marin, president of state telecommunications monopoly ETECSA, grants Cubans access to the Google Global Cache network that stores content from sites like Gmail and YouTube on servers located closer to users. 

Local servers may improve access to content that has been cached, but not for email and search. Those require direct and fast connections to the Internet. "The 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," Reuters reports, citing a Google statement.

While President Barack Obama made improved Inernet access a central part of his efforts to normalize relations with Cuba, the company's leadership denied the ability for U.S. companies to participate in wiring the country, citing national security concerns, Reuters reports.