ICE Says It
Does Not Fear The Competition Next Year
Internet television, video conferencing,
high speed internet connection, 3G, 3.5G,
and low prices are some of the items in
store next year in Costa Rican when
competitors in telecommunications begin
their operations.
Companies like Tigo, Claro and Movistar,
already with a strong presence in Central
America and the Caribbean, have shown an
interest in Costa Rica and could be the
first three companies to obtain approval
from the Superintendencia de
Telecomunicaciones (Sutel) and to compete
against the Instituto Costarricense de
Electricidad (ICE).
A recent study by Signasl Telecom
Consulting, an Argentinian company, on the
Costa Rican telecommunications sector says
that the commencement of competition will
have a direct negative effect on ICE.
Adolfo Arias, head of the División de
Servicios del ICE, said the report includes
information the company gathered, but does
not include the plans ICE has for a
competitive market.
Arias, said that the institution is not
worried, even though the competition will be
hard at first, customers will know that ICE
will have the best service and prices in the
market.
Movistar is the mobile arm of the Telefonica
and is present in many countries through
Latin America.
Tigo, is the Millicom brand name for mobile
telecommunications. Millicom was the pioneer
in mobile telecommunications in Costa Rica
until it ran into problems, ICE ending up
with the infrascture and the company suing
the Costa Rican government for us$400
million dollars. Tigo is present in three
continents, Asia, Africa and Latin America,
where it has operations in Bolivia,
Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras
and Paraguay. additionally the company
provides corporate data services in
Guatemala and Nicaragua.
Claro, is the largest mobile phone network
in the Americas. It is part of the Mexican
telecom group América Móvil which is the
fourth largest mobile phone network operator
in the world, with more than 170 million
customers. It serves clients in Argentina,
Brazil, Chile, the Dominican Republic, El
Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica,
Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico and
Uruguay. It has also been licensed to
operate in Panama.
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Cellular phones like the iPhone 3GS offer all types of multimedia services, wi-fi, email and full internet browsing. Currently, it's use in Costa Rica limited to 2G.
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