Costa Rica’s took a first step at opening the market for Internet services by allowing the company Amnet to have direct access to the submarine cable “Maya 1.”  Maya 1 one of Costa Rica’s main international connections.  Amnet is the first company that Sutel (or the government body that regulates telecommunications in the country) has allowed to have such access.  Amnet has actually been operating in the country for some time, but it formerly had to offer its services in connection with an agreement with Racsa, which is the government run arm that up until now has enjoyed sole access to Maya 1.  Customers of Amnet were thus treated with two bills each month, one from Amnet and another from Racsa.  Raúl Ibáñex, Amnet director, stated that the authorization to connect to Maya 1 marks a new era in Internet access in Costa Rica.  In addition, Sutel authorized seven cable companies in various areas of the country to begin offering television access in competition with Amnet.  However, so far Amnet only has access to Maya 1.

Link to Article in La Nación

A recent article in La Nación indicates that companies such as Microsoft and Motorola have big plans to help the citizenry of Costa Rica to get more connected.  Already Costa Ricans have a reputation for being the Latin American country where every person has a cell phone.  At least it certainly would seem so.  I often joke that every child born in Costa Rica is given a cell phone before a nipple.  At the moment, the sole provider of both cell phone and internet services in Costa Rica is our beloved ICE and RACSA (never-mind what those acronyms stand for…..poor service!), but there is high hopes that the recent passage of the TLC and the telecommunications bills now working their way through the legislature as a result will open the way for more and better service.  At the IX Encuentro Iberoamericano de Ciudades Digitales firms such as Microsoft and Motorola gave a preview of their plans for Costa Rica. Specifically Microsoft is talking about a Plataforma de Servicio al Ciudadano, that would facilitate simple access to municipal services via cell phones and internet.  They plan to initiate the project within the city of San Jose, but the plan has potential to be extended in the future to all local governments throughout the country.  Motorola is taking about wider access to wireless internet service throughout the country.  Also, ICE has plans to roll out services for Blackberries this August and in the medium term, Apple iPhones.  Such extensions of services will no doubt be a great benefit to Costa Ricans and also to tourists and business people visiting our country that need to stay connected.

Link to Article in La Nación (in Spanish):

http://www.nacion.com/ln_ee/2008/junio/17/aldea1581091.html