Costa Rica has $216 million to spend in bringing telephony and internet services to areas with no communication, a situation that causes clashes between the President and the Telecommunications Superintendency.
President Chinchilla asked the telecommunications regulator in Costa Rica (SUTEL), to award the projects to bring internet services to schools to the state telecommunications company (ICE) without a bidding process.
The Comptroller General of the Republic is warning that the move to digital television is full of mistakes, and therefore is requesting the Government to amend the project.
A report by the entity discloses that the project to switch over to the digital age is delayed and has become stagnant and casts doubt on the target proposed by the Government to turn off analog TV in 2017.
The Government is considering a possible tender for a new radio frequency block that would provide fourth-generation mobile services.
Alejandro Cruz, Minister of Science, Technology and Telecommunications (Micitt), asked the Sutel to define the future of the 70 MHz block not auctioned in 2011, when Telefonica and Claro were awarded frequencies. These companies have shown interest in having more spectrum to expand the supply of fast mobile Internet services.
Lack of coordination among the agencies involved in the start-up of digital tv has caused its introduction to be delayed until at least July.
"The schedule was to start digital signals in January, but we could not do it because we didn't have the legal discretion of the Procuraduría, who sets out the field and defines the legal model to be used. The entity in this case, said that it will grant experimental use permits (probationary periods) to companies ," said Rowland Espinosa, Deputy Minister of Telecommunications.
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