I would imagine has more to do with the absolute shambles that is the Cuba economy. When you can't feed your populous, underseas communication cables seem like a bit of a luxury.
The last time there was endemic food distribution problems in Cuba (the "periodo especial") sort of completely ended before the beginning of the 21st century. It was mostly because Cuba was unable to meet its own demand for oil during the collapse of the Soviet Union.
You can bash the Cuban economy all you want, but feeding of its population is not a good place to start. It ranks among the top american countries (that includes the US and Canada) in the UNs undernourishment rating since 2002. As of 2006 it has also ranked consistently in the top3/top5 of american countries in children undernourishment indexes, sometimes above or matching the USA and Canada.
