Tuesday 06 January
2009, San José, Costa
Rica
172 Vehicles Of
Drunk Drivers Parked In Tránsito Lots
INS Says It Is Ready For
Competition; Sutel
Taking Shape
FDA To Open Office In
San José
January Financial
Crunch May Not Be So
Steep This Year
Coffee Exports Up
41%
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INS Says It Is Ready For
Competition; Sutel
Taking Shape
The Instituto Nacional
de Seguros (INS) - state
insurer - will be
launching new insurance
products as part of its
strategy to face the
competition that is
around the corner.
Guillermo Constenla,
president of the INS,
assures that the
institution is ready to
compete and will do
whatever it takes to
keep the majority of its
clients from going to
the competition.
Constenla said that the
INS will make available
insurance products for
all social levels, like
offering funeral
insurance to low
salaried workers that
will cover all funeral
costs, or a life
insurance policy that
will cover the entire
family for items like
food, education and
housing in the event of
the death of the
insured.
To ensure its survival,
the INS will also spread
out into other Central
American countries.
Constenla said that the
institution will invest
some us$100 million
dollars in 2009 in
preparations for the
open market and
expansion into Central
America, although he did
not provide details of
the plan, saying that
details will be
available next month.
One of the subjects
under discussion is the
distribution of profits
of the institution and
the construction of a
trauma centre by the
middle of 2009.
Constenla explained that
the new hospital would
bring together all the
INS medical services and
eliminate the payment to
private hospitals for
medical services to its
insured who suffer
injuries in traffic
accidents.
INS also plans to change
its method of evaluating
vehicles and the
purchase of spare parts,
using a remote
evaluation system
connected to authorized
service centres, which
is 100% secure.
All in all, INS is
looking at streamlining
its operations to be
ready when the
competition begins to
arrive to set up shop in
Costa Rica.
On the other side of the
monopoly eliminations,
the Autoridad Reguladora
de los Servicios
Públicos (Aresep) is
getting ready to swear
in the members of the
Superintendencia de
Telecomunicaciones (Sutel)
- telecommunications
board.
Under the Ley de
Fortalecimiento y
Modernización del Sector
Público de
Telecomunicaciones, the
Instituto Costarricense
de Electricidad (ICE) no
longer holds the
monopoly on
telecommunications and
the Sutel is the body
responsible for
approving and regulating
competition in the
telecommunications
industry.
The Sutel is expected in
the coming months to
review applications by
foreing telecoms who
want to operate in Costa
Rica. Once the Sutel has
approved the
applications, it will be
up to the Ministerio de
Energía y
Telecomunicaciones to
issue concessions and
licenses to operators.
Sutel will also be
responsible to keep an
eye on
telecommunications
rates, establishing a
maximum rate that
operators can charge.
With the opening of the
telecommunications
sector, ICE will, for
the first time in its
decades of operating a
monopoly, face
competition.
The first competition is
expected in internet
services, as for the
first time end users
will have the option of
providers and not have
to rely on the whims of
Racsa. Private telephone
operators are expected
to begin their
operations by the end of
2009.
The changes in the
insurance and
telecommunications
industry are part of the
free trade agreement
with the United States
and Central America
which went into effect
on January 1, 2009. |
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