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Sala IV Upholds Internet Cable
Service
The Constitutional Court (Sala
IV) upheld the agreements the Radiografica Costarricense S.A.
(RACSA) has with private cable
company operators following an
appeal presented by the
Sindicato de Empleados del ICE (Sideice)
which claimed the contracts are
against public order.
RACSA in 2000 entered into a
three year contract with Dodona
S. A. (Amnet) and Televisora de
Costa Rica (Cable Tica) to
provide internet connection over
their cable television network.
The contract calls for a payment
of us$30.000 by Amnet and
us$15.000 by Cable Tica monthly,
who offer internet service to
more than 16.000 customers. The
contract is now being renewed on
an annual basis.
The ICE union claims that the
contracts of internet by way of
cable is an exploitation of
public property and requires the
approval by the Legislative
Assembly, based on Article 21 of
the Constitution.
Sideice claimed that actions by
RACSA were unconstitutional and
that RACSA's board of directors
and well as the board of RACSA's
parent, the Instituto
Costarricense de Electricidad
(ICE) be charged with acting
against the country's
constitution.
The action was begun in March of
2002, but it was only last week
that the Constitutional Court
made the ruling against the
union.
Both Cable Tica and Amnet
provide their customers internet
connection up to 512Kbp by way
of their fibre and coaxial cable
network.
Both companies enter a contract
with their customer for cable
and internet service, however,
require the customer to also
enter a contract directly with
RACSA for an internet account.
In this manner, a customer pays
one half of the internet
connection cost to the cable
company and then other half
directly to RACSA.
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