Better Late Than Never,
Legislature Approves
Telecommunications Law
The Costa Rican
legislature yesterday
approved its "general
telecommunications law"
in first round of
debate. Second reading
that is required to make
the bill into law is
expected in the coming
weeks.
The vote was 36-19.
Opposition to the free
trade agreement are
expected to send the
bill to the
Constitutional Court to
be reviewed for errors
before it can go to
second and final
reading. The process
could take up to a month
and is what the Partido
Accion Cuidadana (PAC)
party wants to do is
tall the process as much
as possible.
The law is part of the
"complimentary laws"
legislators are required
to pass before enacting
the Tratado de Libre
Comercio (TLC) - free
trade agreement with the
United States before the
March 1, 2008, deadline
unless the U.S. and
Central American
governments approve an
extension to Costa Rica.
The TLC was decided by
referendum last October
7, when the "Si" (yes)
vote won by a small
margin over those
opposed to the trade
deal and is scheduled to
go into effect on March
1.
Costa Rican president,
Oscar Arias Sanchez, is
expected to ask the US,
Guatemala, Honduras, El
Salvador, Nicaragua and
the Dominican Republic
for an extension of the
deadline as legislators
in Costa Rica are slow
in passing the 13
complimentary laws.
In the words of
president Arias, Costa
Rica is the first to
decide the fate of the
trade deal by public
vote and will be the
first ever to ask for an
extension.
The approval of the
telecoms law will allow
Costa Rica to establish
telecoms regulation,
create a national
regulator, strenghten
the Instituto
Costarricense de
Electricidad (ICE) to
sector competition and
it may also enable it to
implement a national
telecommunications fund.
Costa Rica is one of the
last Central American
country to enact the
trade deal, as all the
other signatory
countries to the Central
America-Dominican
Republic free trade
agreement (CAFTA-DR)
have ratified and put in
place their respective
trade agreements.
Privatization and
liberalization processes
began more than 10 years
ago in Latin America so
it is a late start for
Costa Rica.
Prepaid cellular
services are still not
offered and there is
still a shortage of GSM
cellular lines in the
country. However, the
current conditions are
not expected to continue
once the
telecommunications
sector is open to
competition, because it
is likely other players
will enter the Costa
Rican market with
aggressive strategies. |
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