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."
After the opening up of the telecommunications market, the number of postpaid cellular lines are down from 1.6 million in 2010 to 1.1 million as at the end of 2012.
Prepaid connections currently represent 80% of the lines that exist in the country, while two years ago the figure was barely 49%, according to a study by the Telecommunications Superintendency (Sutel).
With its entry into force in late November, both the regulator as well as telephone companies predict fierce competition because of attempts to retain and attract customers.
"This law promotes stronger dynamism in the market and gives the user the power to negotiate what suits them. It requires companies to provide more service. It is a climate of true market competition," said Eduardo Castellon spokesman for the Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones (Sutel).
In late 2011 when outside operators came into the country, the Costa Rican Electricity Institute had 90% of the mobile market but a year later this dropped to 79%.
The information comes from the Telecommunications Statistical Report prepared by the Superintendency of Telecommunications (Sutel). The report indicates that the fastest growing company in the same period was Claro, which went from having 3% to 9% of the market in twelve months.
The supervisor of telecommunications and major operators have agreed to implement number portability in November 2013.
After arguing that it was technically impossible to implement the necessary equipment until March 2014, "the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) agreed to accelerate the purchase of equipment in order to implement number portability, while Movistar and Claro operators relaxed deadlines for developing the system which had been agreed on months ago," noted an article in Elfinancierocr.com.
The Costa Rica state telecom company is moving away from the purpose that justifies its existence and is impeding the exercise of the popular will in terms of the cellular market opening up.
The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), after using every piece of legal chicanery imaginable to prevent the implementation of number portability, is now simply saying "I WONT SIGN", citing technical insolvency as its reason for not integrating the system that allows users to migrate from one cellular communication provider to another, while keeping their phone number.
The state telecoms company says it can not adapt its systems to number portability by March 2014.
The ICE has set up every possible legal and administrative resource in order to prevent the entry into operation of number portability, so that it can perpetuate its business advantage (captive customers) in the light of newcomers. Now it is simply reporting that it is technically unprepared to join the system by which mobile phone users can retain their telephone identification when moving from one operator to another.
Without full interconnection and number portability, the state telecommunications company retains a disproportionate advantage, contrary to the equality of conditions expected by private operators.
An editorial published in Nacion.com states that in Costa Rica, the opening of the telecommunications market is still incomplete, and points to the strength of the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, which until last year had a monopoly on telecommunications, as being responsible of this situation.
In June 2012 the number of active lines was recorded at 19.8 million, 4.6% less than the 20.7 million recorded at end of 2011.
Elperiodico.com.gt reports that "After nearly two decades of steady expansion, in the first half of this year the cellular figures reported a negative, according to a report prepared by the Superintendency of Telecommunications (SIT)."
The state-owned communications company in Costa Rica has filed 20 law suits in an attempt to stop number portability.
Surveys say that mobile users aren’t currently showing much inclination to switch service providers. New entrants have experienced set backs in providing coverage throughout Costa Rica, due to, among other factors, the difficulties in obtaining the necessary permits from municipalities to install their antennas.
After one year of competition in mobile communications, the changes that have taken place reveal a market that is different from how many expected.
The market transformation has been swift and contained surprising nuances. Cellular penetration swiftly exceeded 100%, while the use of mobile Internet exceeded forecasts.
Pablo Fonseca's article in Nacion.com reports that "Although more changes will come in the short and medium term, it is good to take stock. Many people were clear that the Costa Rican market was no ordinary market and had certain characteristics that needed to be taken into account when dealing with it, such as a thirst for technology, the level of information being handled, the requirements to be able to receive what is being offered and the level of spending willing to be made for a handset “
Since the formal break up of the monopoly held by the state communications firm, ICE, the number of allocated cell lines has grown from 3.9 to 5.3 million.
Elfinancierocr.com reports that this information was obtained "by an appeal to the Constitutional Court, which forced the Sutel to provide the number of lines that the ICE had up to November 2011, which was considered a strategic issue by the state company and the regulator. "
The technology installed in the towers is from the 21st Century. The bureaucracy that is authorizing them is from the 19th century.
The progress of communications is getting slower in Costa Rica, with cell phone companies unable to meet the deadlines for achieving the necessary territorial coverage, because municipalities are taking up to 5 ½ months to give permission for each tower.
Adapting to a competitive market is being costly for the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, which in 2011 accumulated losses of $40 million and a negative return of 2, 1%.
Already in 2011 the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) has had to "seek waivers or amendments with eight of its creditors", according to an article in Elfinancierocr.com, because it failed to maintain the necessary financial indicators to fill the banks with confidence.
Between the two carriers 100,000 new lines are sold a month and they already have a market share of 20%.
"At the moment, Claro and Movistar between them have a 20% market share. The growth of these companies together is about 100,000 lines per month", said George Miley, a member of the Board of the Telecommunications (Sutel), according to the information portal Signals Telecom News.