The time taken between Costa Rica’s telecoms regulator, Sutel, authorising telcos to operate in the country and the state incumbent, Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) hooking them up to the network is impairing numerous private businesses.
To…
The time taken between Costa Rica’s telecoms regulator, Sutel, authorising telcos to operate in the country and the state incumbent, Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) hooking them up to the network is impairing numerous private businesses.
To date, the Sutel has given its approval to 67 new telecom operators. Meanwhile, the ICE has received 35 requests for interconnection, and all remain pending. The situation has got to such a level that one of the telcos frozen out by ICE is suing the regulator for loss of business. IP telephony provider HyR International has filed a claim against Sutel demanding that it be granted interconnection with state telecoms and energy monopoly ICE, reported one local daily, La Nacion. HyR is a local company that wants to offer VoIP services to businesses in Costa Rica, but in the four months since it was authorised to operate by Sutel, ICE has not connected the company to the national network. HyR claims that delays in connection caused by ICE have cost it more than US$832,000.
Legally, ICE must connect authorised telcos to the network within two months of them gaining an operating licence from Sutel.
ICE has been fined by Sutel for continual breeches of this covenant, and is in the process of appealing these fines. ICE turns the blame onto Sutel, claiming that the regulator has given it no guidance on how to calculate connection charges, fees or terms of contract. The state-owned company also claims that the two months it is given to hook up new operator is “too short”.
La Nacion cites numerous examples, with many of the start-up operators believing that the delays are part of a conspiracy to protect the position of ICE as the country’s only universal telecommunications provider, and that despite the public announcements from the government about the need to open up the Costa Rican telecommunications industry, in fact the government, is acting to protect the monopolistic interests of ICE behind the scenes.
