In Costa Rica a tender is being launched for the implementation of 100 MB of wireless internet access in parks, plazas, train stations and other public spaces.
$45 million will be invested in the project, and the aim is to connect 985 wireless access points in 360 districts of the country's 82 cantons, including 62 public libraries, 28 train stations and 7 civic centers for peace.The delivery of offers is scheduled for November 2017.Seedetails of the tender.
A plan is being worked on in Costa Rica to implement a broadband internet network for 2,500 educational centers in different areas of the country.
The proposal which is being worked on by the government and Fonatel is in the planning stage, and aims to develop a broadband internet network with different speeds and capacities, which would be defined according to the number of users in each educational center.
In Costa Rica contracts have been awarded to the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad and Claro to provide telephony and broadband Internet services in six cantons in the south of the country.
The Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) will be responsible for developing projects in Buenos Aires, Osa, Corredores, Coto Brus and Golfito. Meanwhile Claro de Costa Rica is in charge of projects in the area of Perez Zeledon.
With resources from the National Telecommunications Fund the infrastructure required to provide services in the north of the country will be built.
The municipalities of San Carlos, Los Chiles, Guatuso and Upala have signed an agreement to expedite the process needed to be completed by the telecommunications companies Claro and Movistar in order to install base stations and to provide Internet service in the area.
Claro, Movistar and the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad are competing for a contract for telecommunications services in isolated communities.
These three operators submitted bids in a contest sponsored by the Superintendency of Telecommunications (Sutel) to provide telecommunications services to residents of the communities of La Lidia, La Curia and Aguas Fría in the district of Roxana de Pococí in Limon.
Five years after the fall of the monopoly, there are more companies, more users and a greater array of services on offer, with growth of 45% in the sector's contribution to GDP.
According to data reported by telecommunications companies to the Superintendency of Telecommunications (Sutel), the sector's contribution to the economy has grown by 45% over the past five years.
Telecoms companies in Costa Rica demand the abolition of a decree which allows the government to award contracts without bidding in the National Telecommunications Fund.
According to the Chamber of Information and Technology this could cause market distortions and they warn that the decree could have implications and consequences of possible violations of the Free Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA).
The multitude of paperwork and the Fondo Nacional de Telecomunicaciones are the obstacles preventing major progress in implementing fast internet services in Costa Rica.
"There is a significant increase (according to preliminary reports) in the number of broadband internet connections. This is despite the fact that there have been delays in major projects for the country and which could make us progress faster," said Rowland Espinoza, Deputy Minister of Telecommunications.