I don't get it. Why? This can only be symbolic. Why not take it to Russia, China even.
If this is symbolic it means netflix is willing to do things which don't go toward profit but are willing to do 'symbolic' things. Meaning they are okay with not making money, if that thing fits their ideology --which is fine, great, but it just means there are other things which affect them beside a motive for profits or altruism or free expression, etc.
It's like Caterpillar saying, we're going to build an asteroid-digger.
Or the WWF deciding to build a do-do bird conservation area.
Opening up to Cuba probably costs Netflix extremely little. In terms of rights negotiating their content suppliers are currently getting nothing from Cuba so will go for it without any discussions, so all Netflix needs to do is flick a switch in their control panel to allow IPs from Cuba and issue a press release.
Sure, even if 100% of Cuba's broadbrand subscribers signed up it's an insignificant amount to Netflix, but for the low cost they may well think of it as PR and/or marketing (and/or looking ahead to a day when maybe Cuba could give them enough revenue to care about - though seems unlikely to me), not just for ideological reasons.
Id like to point out, that if they are making a decent wage it's almost certainly illegally in context to Cuba's laws. (My wife is from Cuba, she has many of her family still living there)
I know very little about Cuba, but given it's been cut off economically from most of the world, it's no surprise that currencies would be different down there.
According to Numbeo.com [1] a cost of basic utilities (Electricity, Heating, Water, Garbage) for 85m2 Apartment is ~$6.09/month. A one-way ticket on local transport is $0.04. I've picked two that jumped out at me as crazily cheap compared to places like the US/UK, but looking down that list I don't know if living on $17/month is doable. But without fully understanding the environment/economy... it's a lot more complicated than just thinking that $17 could never be enough to live on.
Generally It's not enough to live on. However there is a thriving black market, prostitution or just "hooking up" with wealthy foreigners is common. For example a bartender at a resort will likely have his/her own bottle of alcohol behind the counter and sell that while pocketing the cash, later when they check the alcohol everything lines up for drinks sold vs revenue but the bartender skimmed $x in revenue off the top. Underground capitalism/entrepreneurship is how people get by (risking serious jail time daily).
Looks like there's a typo in the Guardian article, in addition to the quote you give there is also:
> The country has 53 broadband internet accounts today, according to Kelly.
edit: Definitely 5,300. Note at the bottom reads "This story was amended on 9 February to correct the number of broadband accounts in Cuba. There are 5,300."
- Average monthly wage in Cuba is $17
- 2.8m people with access to internet (26%)
- 3.3m people with computer access (31%) "at home, work or school"
- "A modest computer with a monitor costs $722 in Cuban stores, and at least $550 on the black market", so I suspect more at work/school than at home
- "The country has 53 broadband internet accounts today"
[1] http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/09/netflix-launche...