It is the first country in Central America to use Fourth Generation (4G) technology for data transmission on mobile phones.
A press release from Claro reads:
“Panama, August 9, 2011 .-
Claro, a leading telecommunications company in Central America, presents the first fourth generation 4G mobile network based on HSPA + technology which will allow its customers to increase the transmission speed of data for browsing and downloading content via a mobile Internet service either by using their cell phones or by logging onto a computer or laptop with a 4G modem.
The telecommunications industry is one of the most successful in El Salvador; its market is one of the most unregulated of Central America.
An article in Ecommerce Journal analyzed the Salvadoran Telecomm market and its opportunities. It noted that once the market was privatized and opened to competition in 1998, foreign and local operators proceeded to invest millions in infrastructure development.
Be ready to comply with a long list of changing requisites, and make room in your agenda to dedicate time to the process.
Johanna Bozo Paz Castillo, a Venezuelan journalist who resides in Costa Rica, provided a neutral approach on the ordeal that becomes getting a mobile phone line in the country.
The long awaited telecommunications aperture, established in the Free Trade Agreement between the U.S and Central America (DR-CAFTA), is still long overdue. In practical terms, the country is still months away (possibly over a year), from actual free competition between telecom operators in Costa Rica.
Mobile applications offer new and huge opportunities for customer – company communications.
Vertiginous increase in mobile phone coverage has coupled with increased sales of smartphones, which enable the use of 3G or 4G applications. Companies may benefit from this applications to communicate better and cheaper with their customers.
Elfinancierocr.com remarks that “the use of smartphones and applications is moving from being a business opportunity an obligation for companies, as it was having Internet presence 10 years ago or being in Facebook today”.
The Telecommunications Superintendence (Sutel) will host an informative meeting with companies interested in obtaining a frequency for mobile telephony services.
The meeting will take place on January 18th, at 11 a.m. at Hotel Intercontinental in San José.
"George Miley, head of Sutel's council, explained that the meeting will be used to explain which public contest process will be used to auction mobile telephony frequencies to new operators", reported Nacion.com.
ICE's directors ratified an agreement to free a portion of the radio spectrum, to be auctioned between future telecomm operators.
This was confirmed by Elbert Durán, communication director at the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE).
"The institution will immediately free 4 of the 6 bands requested by the Executive. They are: 1.730-1.805 MHz, 1.825-1.920 MHz, 1.920-1.935 MHz and 2.125-2.170 MHz", reported Nacion.com.
The accord previously announced by the Executive, meant to free several bands of the radio spectrum, is being blocked by bureaucratic obstacles.
If this agreement, negotiated by the Executive and the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (current holder of the telecomm monopoly in Costa Rica), is not enacted, President Oscar Arias cannot order the Telecomm Superintendence to start auctioning the frequencies.
The Costa Rican Electricity Institute agreed to release 4 radio frequencies to be used by competitors in the cellular telephone market.
With this agreement, Costa Rican president, Oscar Arias will sign a decree to give the Sutel the green light for the opening of the market.
"Once the Sutel has the frequencies, it should take four to six months for the process of awarding a license, if there are no appeals", reported Nacion.com.
Costa Rica's mobile telephony market won't be open to competition until 2011.
In the past 10 years, Costa Rica has been losing what was a privileged position in telecommunications. Statistics from the International Telecommunications Union show that the country, with 1.800.000 mobile phone subscribers, is ranked 160th in the list of 225 countries.
With 42 mobile phone lines per 100 inhabitants, Costa Rica is way below its Central American neighbors. Panama has 115, El Salvador 113, Guatemala 109, Honduras 85, Nicaragua 55. In the American continent, only Cuba and Haiti fare worse.