The Superintendence of Telecommunications, as Sectorial Competition Authority, approved the purchase by Cabletica of 100% of the operations of Telefonica de Costa Rica, which offers telephony and mobile Internet services nationwide.
Last year, countries in the region imported communication radios for $52 million, and Central American purchases from Mexican companies increased by 79% compared to what was reported in 2019.
Figures from the Trade Intelligence Unit of CentralAmericaData: [GRAFICA caption="Click to interact with the graph"]
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.
After Millicom announced that it exercised its right to cancel the Share Purchase Agreement for the acquisition of Telefonica's operating subsidiary in Costa Rica, the Spanish firm will focus on strengthening its operations in the Central American country.
Eight months after the Telecommunications Superintendence authorized the economic concentration requested for Millicom to buy the shares of Telefónica de Costa Rica TC S.A., the parties announced on May 2nd that they had decided to rescind the agreement.
The Costa Rican Institute of Electricity tenders the maintenance services and installations in the telecommunications network in the central and northern Pacific sector, under the delivery on demand modality.
Costa Rican Government Purchase 2020LA-000022-0000400001:
"The Contractor must have the following equipment and tools
Millicom announced that it exercised its right to terminate the Share Purchase Agreement for the acquisition of Telefonica's operating subsidiary in the Central American country.
The Costa Rican Electricity Institute tenders the maintenance service and installations in the telecommunications network, for the western metropolitan region.
Costa Rican Government Purchase 2020LI-000002-0000400001:
"The contracted service will be carried out in the established area, in the territory covered by each plant that makes up the lines, with a scope of action in exceptional cases of 60 kilometers around the limit of the contracted area.
The Costa Rican Institute of Electricity tenders the maintenance service in the telecommunications network for the Huetar Atlántico area, under the delivery on demand modality.
Costa Rican Government Purchase 2020LA-000001-0000400001:
"Maintenance service and facilities in the telecommunications network (Voice, broadband and TV). The Contractor must guarantee that the works executed will be carried out with the highest quality, complying with the requirements of the contracting sign and the applicable standards by the trained staff, the guarantee for these works will be of two (2) months in case of the installations and readjustments and of one (1) month in case of breakdowns, from the date in which ICE receives the service to its full satisfaction the Contractor will be committed to correct at its own expense and risk, including transportation and any other additional expense, all the works executed that do not comply with the requirements and standards indicated by ICE.
After recording a slowdown in the revenue of companies in the sector in 2018, it is expected that this year in Costa Rica will begin a cycle of better sales and increased investment because of an increase in consumption of services.
During the last year, the revenues of the 152 operators and providers of telecommunications services in the country totaled about $1.422 million, an amount that is similar to that of 2017, since it is only 0.3% higher.
The lack of proper infrastructure and the lack of allocation of radio spectrum are some of the reasons why it is difficult for telecommunications companies to improve Internet connection or lower prices for services.
Internet operators in Costa Rica face adversities to improve service and provide better prices to consumers, including the deficit of appropriate infrastructure.
The mergers and acquisitions being reported in Central America are largely because not all companies in the region are willing to make the heavy investments that the transition to 5G technology will require.
The most recent register of the sale of assets of one of the Central American competitors is the case of Telefónica, which on January 24 reported that for $648 million it sold to América Móvil all the shares of Telefónica Guatemala and 99.3% of Telefónica El Salvador.
The percentage of the population with Internet access in Central America increased 17% between 2016 and 2018, increasing from 44% to 61%.
Data from the report "Internet in Central America 2018", compiled by the Commercial Trade Area of CentralAmericaData:
Currently, Costa Rica is the Central American country with the highest proportion of households with Internet access, with 77% of the total, followed by Panama with 67% and Honduras with 31%.
Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad is evaluating the Salvadoran market to determine if there is an opportunity to establish itself as a new broadband operator.
The state telecommunications company already has a presence in Nicaragua, where in conjunction with the state company Enatrel, it operates the company Telecomunica, which provides internet and television services.
If the proposal put forward by the Superintendence of Telecommunications is successful, the rates for telephony and mobile internet will be free of regulation.
The proposal to declare effective competition in the mobile phone market will put to public consultation for the next 15 days.