NEW YORK (AP) — A small Miami-based company said the US government has given it permission to lay the first optical communications fibre from the US to Cuba. That could drastically cut the cost of calling the island nation and make the Internet more accessible to Cubans.

Treasury Department officials were unavailable to confirm that TeleCuba Communications Inc. has received approval, which is necessary even though the Obama administration eased long-standing restrictions on telecom links to Cuba in April.

TeleCuba said yesterday that its cable will be operating by the middle of 2011. It still needs final permission from the Cuban government to land the cable.

A government official in Cuba, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak publicly, said Cuba has been waiting for the US to approve a "group of companies" seeking to build telecommunications infrastructure. But the official could not confirm whether Cuba would ultimately give them permission to enter the market.

Cuba is the only nation in the Western Hemisphere that is not linked to the outside world by fibre optics. Instead, it relies on slow, expensive satellite links. While the cable could make calling very cheap, it would be up to the Cuban government to set rates, and it could keep restrictions on Internet access as well.

The government of Venezuela, a Cuban ally, has announced that it is building a fibre to Cuba, which could beat TeleCuba by getting to the island next year. But construction hasn't started, and TeleCuba has the advantage of a much shorter route: 110 miles, compared to 966 miles from Venezuela.

"We might get into a little race there with them," said Luis Coello, CEO of TeleCuba.

TeleCuba projects the costs of its fibre at $18 million, which will be financed by private investors, while Venezuela said this summer that it is planning to spend $70 million.

TeleCuba's fibre will follow the route of a defunct 1950s copper telephone cable from Key West to Cojimar, an eastern suburb of the Cuban capital, Havana. Apart from carrying communications, it will have scientific and weather sensors.