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COSTA RICA |
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Who
Will Compete With ICE For Cellular Service?
The opening of the cellular
telecommunications sector continues with the
possible awarding of three cellular service
licenses in the first months of 2010 and
possible start of operation six months
later, now that the state telecom, the
Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad
(ICE), has handed over the required
frequencies.
The next step in the process is for Costa
Rican president, Oscar Arias, to sign over
the state owned frequencies to the telecom
regulator, the Superintendencia de
Telecommunicaciones (SUTEL), which is
responsible for the bid process and awarding
of licenses.
But, who will be giving ICE competition?
Business News Americas says that Digicel,
Cable & Wireless, America Movil, Millicom
and Telefonica have all expressed an
interest in entering the Costa Rican market.
The frequencies up for grabs are the 850MHz,
1800MHz and 2100MHz bands.
Who is who?
Digicell, since beginning in 2001,
became the largest mobile telecommunications
operator in the Caribbean and a recent new
entrant to the Central American mobile
market. On March 31, 2009 Digicel finished
its last fiscal year with 8.2 million
customers with operations in 26 markets in
the Caribbean and Central America include
Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba,
Barbados, Bermuda, Bonaire, The British
Virgin Islands, The Cayman Islands, Curacao,
Dominica, El Salvador, French Guiana,
Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Haiti,
Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Panama, St.
Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and
the Grenadines, Suriname, Turks and Caicos
and Trinidad & Tobago.
Cable & Wireless is one of the
world’s leading international communications
companies, operating through two standalone
business units – CWI (formerly
International) and Worldwide (formerly
Europe, Asia & US). CWI is an owner and
operator of leading regional telecoms
businesses. Headquartered in London, it
operates businesses through four regional
operations - the Caribbean, Panama, Macau
and Monaco.
America Movil is owned Mexico's
telecom magante Carlos Slim and the fourth
largest mobile network operator in terms of
equity subscribers, the largest corporation
in Latin America, and a Fortune 500 company.
Americal Movil provides services to over 182
million wireless subscribers in the
Americas, primarily in Latin America and the
Caribbean. Trademarks include the brand name
Claro with operations in Nicaragua,
Guatemala, Honduras, Argentina and Comcel in
Colombia.
Millicom* says it provides
affordable, widely accessible and readily
available prepaid cellular telephony
services to more than 30 million customers
in 13 emerging markets in Latin America and
Africa where the basic telephone service is
often inadequate and where economic
development and rising personal income
levels are creating increasing demand for
communication services. Some of the trade
names it operates under are Comcel in
Guatemala; Celtel in Honduras, Bolivia and
Paraguay; and Colombia Movil in Colombia.
Telefónica, a publicly owned company,
is a Spanish telecommunication company.
Operating globally, it is one of the largest
fixed-line and mobile telecommunications
companies in the world: 3rd in terms of
number of clients only behind China Mobile
and Vodafone, and in the top five in market
value. Telefonica trademarks include
Movistar with networks in Nicaragua,
Guatemala, Panama, Colombia, venezuela,
Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Peru in Latin
America.
* Millicom has already made a return to
Costa Rica with the purchase of Amnet,
the leading provider of broadband internet
and cable television in Central America.
See story. |
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