The company Telefonica went from monopolizing 22.3% of the total mobile telephone subscriptions in the country in 2015, to concentrating 29.9% at the end of last year.
According to a report prepared by the Superintendence of Telecommunications (Sutel), which was released on November 17th, in the last few years Telefonica has gained ground in the mobile telephone market, and in the cases of Claro and the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE), they have decreased their share.
Since rules came into effect on number portability, Costa Rica's state telephone company has lost 559 thousand lines, which have swelled the client lists of the two foreign competitors that operate in the mobile telephony market.
The possibility of keeping the same cell phone number and changing operator has existed since November 2013, and since then, Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) has lost almost 560 thousand lines, which passed into the hands of Telefónica, which operates the brand Movistar, and Claro, a brand of the Mexican company América Móvil.
The state run electricity company ICE and Claro have obtained contracts to build infrastructure to provide internet and mobile telephony services in 620 communities in the province of Limon.
From a statement issued by the Sutel:
January 5, 2017.The National Telecommunications Fund (FONATEL) through Banco Nacional, as administrator of the Trust, signed contracts with Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) and Claro to bring internet telephony to 620 vulnerable communities in the districts of Siquirres, Pococi, Guácimo, Matina, Limón and Talamanca.
In the early years of the real market opening for cell lines, the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad lost 518,000 customers to the hands of private companies.
Since number portability became effective on November 30, 2013, there have been 782,000 changeovers, according to figures from the Sutel requested by Nacion.com.That figure represents 10% of the 7.5 million mobile phone lines registered in December 2015.
A complaint from the state run telecommunications company in Costa Rica has been dismissed after it argued that its competitors Claro and Movistar were using monopolistic practices in their services for international voice and data roaming.
The Superintendency of Telecommunications (Sutel) and the Commission to Promote Competition (COPROCOM) decided not to recommend any sanction against alleged monopolistic practices by Movistar and Claro, annulling the suit filed in May 2015 by the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE).
Between 2013 and 2015 data traffic grew by 200%, and the state-owned ICE continued to lose its share in the mobile phone market, going from 62% in 2014 to 58% in 2015.
From the report "Statistics in the telecommunications sector 2015 ," by the Superintendency of Telecommunications (Sutel):
At the close of 2015, "... a total of 139 operators and suppliers authorized by the Sutel were recorded.
Six years after the market opened, authorities are assessing whether competition is effective in order to eliminate caps and free up rates for mobile telephony and the internet.
The methodology for determining whether or not there is effective or genuine competition in the telecommunications market has already been approved and the Telecommunications Regulator expects to have the results no later than the end of the year.
The arbitrariness with which municipalities are issuing permits to build cell towers is preventing controls and the ability to demand better coverage.
The obstacles imposed by the different municipalities have forced the suspension of the timeframe which telephone companies were given to meet the required demand for coverage in order to operate in the market.
The Ministry of Telecommunications has announced that a tender for allocating frequencies will take place in early 2015 and plans to add a new operator to the process.
Officials added that the tender documents will be ready at the end of the semester and discussed the possibility of adding one more operator to the competition. This option has not been well received by the telecommunications companies currently taking part in the tender for whom "...
The tender scheduled for the second half of the year includes a block of 40 MHz from the 1800 MHz band and a 30 MHz from the bands 1900/2100 MHz
After being canceled in late April by the Chinchilla administration, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Communications has decided to restart the project and is analysing how the bidding process will be structured.
The second tender planned for this year which would have allowed the entry of a fourth company into the phone market will not be completed.
According to the executive power, who took the decision to suspend the tender, there is not enough information available because the technical report of the Telecommunications Authority is "inconclusive" and contains figures which are out of date.
The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad's share in the mobile phone market fell to 65%.
At the end of 2012 Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) owned a 79% stake in the mobile market, and this was reduced to 65% in September 2013. That portion of the market was taken over by the foreign competitors Claro and Movistar.
According to figures from the Telecommunications regulator mentioned in an article on Nacion.com , "up to September 2013 the ICE had 4,278,183 active lines, which represents an increase of 0.7 % compared to the 4,248,684 lines it had in the last quarter of 2012."
From April 1st the operator Claro will starts the new 4G mobile network service.
The phone company Claro has announced that from 1 April it will start its 4G LTE mobile network service. At the moment the company is carrying out the final tests for implementation of the service.
"The coverage area includes the sectors of La Ururca, Heredia, Escazu and Santa Ana."
Following a favorable resolution of the appeal by Movistar, the State operator has started marketing 4G cell phones.
The Manager of the Client Division at Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), Jaime Palermo, announced the launch of the 4G LTE network, which will initially be free for postpaid users in the first month.
In order to activate the service they must meet certain conditions: "Postpaid users must first check if they are in a zone covered by 4G LTE network. The second step is to confirm that the device has the ability to connect to the 4G LTE network in the 2600 MHz band (this can be corroborated in the user manual of the cell phone as not all models are able to).
Movistar's appeal accusing the ICE of concentration of 2.6 Ghz spectrum and impeding it from using the 4G network until the law suit was resolved, has been rejected.
The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad may continue marketing cellular services for its 4G network after the Administrative Court rejected an appeal by its competitor Movistar.