After more than six years of having promoted laws which opened up the telecommunications market in Costa Rica, no operator has the ability to unilaterally set final prices or manipulate conditions in the telecommunications market.

In his opinion piece in Elfinancierocr.com Elias Soley notes that "... The commercial reality in this market in Costa Rica is that regulatory intervention in the market for mobile Internet access has allowed tariff ceilings up to seven times higher than the rates actually offered by operators to their customers. This scenario confirms that competitive conditions do exist."

"... The state operator has had to adapt to new conditions of competition, so it is important and necessary for the regulator and the rector of the sector to evolve in parallel, at an appropriate speed, and avoid staying with intervention scenarios that distort and affect free competition ".

Source: elfinancierocr.com

More on this topic

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The Superintendency of Telecommunications postponed until the first quarter of 2017 the decision on a possible declaration of effective competition in mobile postpaid services.

Telecoms in Costa Rica: Liberate Mobile Rates

May 2015

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.

Costa Rica: Telecoms Moving Slowly

January 2015

Even though demand continues to grow, operators are not able to grow due to lack of effective competition in the mobile market and delays in the allocation of spectrum.

A portion of customers in the cellular market and other telecommunications services such as internet and cable television are still dissatisfied, but telecommunications companies are not able to increase their services due to the slow rate at which the rules are set and at which infrastructure problems are addressed.

Costa Rica: Call for Liberalization of Prices in Telecommunications

August 2014

The industry is calling for effective competition to be allowed with the market setting rates and not the Telecommunications Regulator.

Operators of telephony and internet services are asking for the establishment of maximum rates by the Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones (Sutel) to be eliminated, applying what is contemplated in the Telecommunications Act, which allows the possibility of not intervening in the setting of rates. The companies point out that "... the market prices are up to six times lower than the maximum rate established by the Sutel."