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.

See also: "Mobile phone market in Central America"

Nacion.com reports that since the introduction of portability, "... 1,157,000 transfers have been made up to December 31, as revealed by statistics from the Telecommunications Superintendence (Sutel). This figure represents 14% of total mobile lines as of December 2016, when the total was 8.3 million. After four years, the ICE, with its brand Kölbi, took 145,000 lines from its foreign rivals while they took away from the Institute 559,000 telephone numbers."

"... Movistar had a total gain of 438,000 lines after taking on 667,000 lines and losing 228,000 in four years. In 2017 alone, it gained 139,000 even after losing 87,000 in the same period."

Source: Nacion.com

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Costa Rica: State Run Telefónica Loses Out in Cell Phone Competition

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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.

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