Copying and distributing are prohibited without permission of the publisher
Costa Rica to auction mobile bandwidth
25 January 2010
Mobile bandwidth auctions to mark beginning of competition in Costa Rica
Read more:
[Costa Rica]
[3G]
[auction]
[ICE]
[América Móvil]
[Telefónica]
[Millicom]
[Digicel]
[CWI]
Comment: Much of central America is highly competitive for telecommunications, but one country where there is still a monopoly is Costa Rica. That means penetration is low, with only 1.8 million mobile phones in a country of 4.2 million — plenty of potential for new entrants, which explains the surge of interest from across Latin America in the three new licences.
Costa Rica is holding the first ever bandwidth auction in February, ending a 40-year state monopoly, according to reports. The country needs to open the telecom market to meet the condition of joining the Central America Free Trade Agreement.
The fixed and mobile business in Costa Rica is still a monopoly of ICE, the Costa Rican Electricity Institute.
The winners of the auction will be allowed to offer wireless services but not fixed services.
Latin American and Caribbean cellular operators have already started talks with the Costa Rican regulator, Sutel. These include América Móvil, controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, Spain’s Telefónica, Luxembourg-based Millicom, Caribbean operator Digicel and CWI, the son to be separated international division of Cable & Wireless.
The Financial Times suggests that Yota, a Russian company which is building a WiMax network in Costa Rica, may also bid in the auction. ICE is building a 3G network, with equipment supplied by Huawei.
Three licences will be auctioned, with results expected in May 2010. GTB