Racsa Announced
Expansion Of WiMax
Service
Racsa, the state
monopoly on internet,
has announced that it
will extend its "WiMax"
program to all of san
José, allowing properly
equipped laptops, PDA's
and cell phones wireless
broadband access to the
internet.
The program started last
year in Santa Ana and
Ezcazú that included
such spots as Multiplaza,
and many restaurants and
public spots across the
Metropolitan Area. The
Juan Santamaría (San
José) international
airport also on WiMax.
Racsa says that once the
San José program is
complete, it will begin
in Alajuela and Cartago.
According to the
Wikipedia WiMAX is an
acronym that stands for
Worldwide
Interoperability
for Microwave
Access, a
certification mark for
products that pass
conformity and
interoperability tests
for the IEEE 802.16
standards.
Products that pass the
conformity tests for
WiMAX are capable of
forming wireless
connections between them
to permit the carrying
of internet packet data.
It is similar to WiFi in
concept, but has certain
improvements that are
aimed at improving
performance and should
permit usage over much
greater distances.
Following the success of
this pilot launch, Rasca
now intends to expand
the network to more than
400 "hotspots" in the
San José area that will
include commercial
centres, restaurants and
public buildings.
The user-base is limited
by those individuals
whom Rasca estimate can
afford to purchase CPE
units. While this is a
small user base, Rasca
believe that the WiMAX
service will become
available to more users
in the future when the
prices of CPE units
decreases.
Costa Rica has a modern
telecoms infrastructure
and has the second
highest Internet
penetration rate in
Latin America, according
to Paul Budde
Communications. ICE and
Rasca is a subsidiary of
the Instituto
Costarricense de
Electricidad (ICE), a
state-owned monopoly
that control all
telecommunications in
Costa Rica.
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