After the session between Sutel and the operators interested in participating in the public auction of the 5G network, the businessmen ask the authorities to draw up a roadmap and a schedule that includes the recovery and availability of the required frequencies.
Claro, the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE), Telefónica, Call May Way, Huawei Technologies Costa Rica, Next Curve, Telecable, Viasat and Cabletica, were some of the 12 operators that attended the hearing called by the Superintendence of Telecommunications (Sutel), in which the willingness of the companies to participate in the public auction of the frequencies of the radioelectric spectrum in question was known.
The company Telefonica went from monopolizing 22.3% of the total mobile telephone subscriptions in the country in 2015, to concentrating 29.9% at the end of last year.
According to a report prepared by the Superintendence of Telecommunications (Sutel), which was released on November 17th, in the last few years Telefonica has gained ground in the mobile telephone market, and in the cases of Claro and the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE), they have decreased their share.
Since rules came into effect on number portability, Costa Rica's state telephone company has lost 559 thousand lines, which have swelled the client lists of the two foreign competitors that operate in the mobile telephony market.
The possibility of keeping the same cell phone number and changing operator has existed since November 2013, and since then, Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) has lost almost 560 thousand lines, which passed into the hands of Telefónica, which operates the brand Movistar, and Claro, a brand of the Mexican company América Móvil.
If the bill that has already been approved in a first debate in Congress successful, the Panamanian mobile telephone market will have only three participants, instead of four, as at present.
The aim of the bill is "... to consolidate the market so that the necessary investments in infrastructure can be achieved and thus technologically renew coverage of these services in Panama."
In the tender for 70 MHz of frequencies for telephone and mobile telephone and Internet services in Costa Rica, Claro paid $19 million for three blocks of frequencies and Movistar $24 million for four blocks.
In the against the clock auction, in a single round, the Telecommunications Superintendence (Sutel) sold the 70 MHz that had been left idle since the first radio spectrum contest was held in 2011.
The state run electricity company ICE and Claro have obtained contracts to build infrastructure to provide internet and mobile telephony services in 620 communities in the province of Limon.
From a statement issued by the Sutel:
January 5, 2017.The National Telecommunications Fund (FONATEL) through Banco Nacional, as administrator of the Trust, signed contracts with Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) and Claro to bring internet telephony to 620 vulnerable communities in the districts of Siquirres, Pococi, Guácimo, Matina, Limón and Talamanca.
In the early years of the real market opening for cell lines, the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad lost 518,000 customers to the hands of private companies.
Since number portability became effective on November 30, 2013, there have been 782,000 changeovers, according to figures from the Sutel requested by Nacion.com.That figure represents 10% of the 7.5 million mobile phone lines registered in December 2015.
A complaint from the state run telecommunications company in Costa Rica has been dismissed after it argued that its competitors Claro and Movistar were using monopolistic practices in their services for international voice and data roaming.
The Superintendency of Telecommunications (Sutel) and the Commission to Promote Competition (COPROCOM) decided not to recommend any sanction against alleged monopolistic practices by Movistar and Claro, annulling the suit filed in May 2015 by the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE).
Between 2013 and 2015 data traffic grew by 200%, and the state-owned ICE continued to lose its share in the mobile phone market, going from 62% in 2014 to 58% in 2015.
From the report "Statistics in the telecommunications sector 2015 ," by the Superintendency of Telecommunications (Sutel):
At the close of 2015, "... a total of 139 operators and suppliers authorized by the Sutel were recorded.
The Superintendency of Telecommunications has now been given approval to hold the contest of 70 MHz for mobile telephony, which had been on hold since 2011.
Four years after the last allocation of frequencies, the Ministry of Telecommunications has given authorization to proceed with a public auction, in which it is expected that Claro and Telefonica will take part but not the state run power company as it already has a larger number of frequencies than private operators.
The telecommunications regulator has not found that the services provided by private operators for regional roaming at no additional cost are anti-competitive.
The complaint filed by the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad purported to show that its competitors in the mobile phone market Claro and Telefonica were implementing anti-competitive practices when setting prices for their services in the country.
Operators are questioning the slow pace of the Superintendency in analyzing the market to determine the existence of effective competition and eliminate caps on rates.
The study being carried out by the Telecommunications Authority to analyze the details of the market and define whether there is effective competition should be ready by the end of the year, but operators say the lack of speed with which the process is being carried, will prevent this deadline from being met. This will delay the eventual liberalization of tariffs in telephony and internet services.
A ruling by the Administrative Court has annulled the General Rules for Municipal Licenses for Telecommunications and is demanding the preparation of a new one in less than three months.
The ruling by the tribunal in a lawsuit filed by Claro in January 2014, indicates that the Municipality of Alajuela must pay damages to the company, after it argued that it was unable to build telecommunications infrastructure in the region of Alajuela because of the regulations by which the municipality was governed.
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.
The arbitrariness with which municipalities are issuing permits to build cell towers is preventing controls and the ability to demand better coverage.
The obstacles imposed by the different municipalities have forced the suspension of the timeframe which telephone companies were given to meet the required demand for coverage in order to operate in the market.