Havana, May 27 (IANS): The US embargo against Cuba has severely affected the telecommunications sector in the Caribbean nation, a high-ranking official said here.

"Between April and December 2020, the US blockade has caused damages to this field worth $65 million," Wilfredo Gonzalez, Deputy Minister of Telecommunications, said while addressing a press conference on Wednesday.

He said that due to the US unilateral policy, the Cuban telecommunications company ETECSA had been restricted from accessing technologies and equipment licensed by American firms.

First imposed in 1962, the embargo bars US companies from doing business with Cuba and selling products containing more than 10 per cent of American firms to the island.

The telecommunication authorities said that the US embargo harms exports of services, and blocks access to websites, e-commerce platforms and the video conferencing app Zoom.

Despite the US economic sanctions, 64 per cent of the country's 11 million inhabitants access the internet as digital TV signal covers more than 76 per cent of the island's territory.