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.
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.
The National Telecommunications Fund plans to develop seven projects in the areas of education, social welfare, health and homes, which will feature, for the first time, internet and telephone services.
According to the Telecommunications Superintendency (Sutel), there are a total of 477 schools, 78 colleges, 155 Ebais (health centres), 25 Cecis and 70 CEN- CINAI which will be connected with a speed of 4 megabytes.
An announcement has been made in Costa Rica for a tender for a project to give rural communities mobile and fixed telephone coverage, with funding from the National Telecommunications Fund.
The National Telecommunications Fund (Fonatel) is endowed with payments for operating licenses awarded to telecom operators such as Claro and Movistar, and currently has $190 million to be used to promote access to quality, timely, efficient, affordable and competitive telecommunications services, for the inhabitants of areas of the country where the cost of investment for the installation and maintenance of infrastructure for the provision of these services is not financially profitable.