Telecommunications in Costa Rica

Communications Service Provider Type: Government Monopoly (I.C.E.)

Telephones - main lines in use: 1 389 359 (August 2005)

Telephones - mobile cellular: 934 764 (August 2005)

Telephone system: Domestic telephone service
domestic: point-to-point and point-to-multi-point microwave, fiber-optic and coaxial cable link rural areas; Internet service is available
international: connected to Central American Microwave System; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean); two submarine cables (1999)

Radio broadcast stations: AM 50, FM 43, shortwave 19 (1998)

Radios: 980,000 (1997)

Television broadcast stations: 6 (plus 11 repeaters) (1997)

Televisions: 525,000 (1997)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 2 (1999)

Country code: CR

Broadband Internet access

Costa Rica’s telecommunication sector is monopolized by two government companies (Grupo ICE and Racsa), but consumer ADSL services are currently being offered by Grupo ICE only.

Price ranges between 19 USD/month for a 256 kB/s to 128 kB/s connection to 169 USD/month for a 4096 kB/s to 768 kB/s connection.

Service	Speed kB/s	Price (USD)
Home Basic	256/128 kB/s	19
Home Medium	512/256 kB/s	25
Home Premium	1024/512 kB/s	38
Home Premium Plus	2048/768 kB/s	62
SMB Basic	1536/768 kB/s	72
SMB Medium	2048/768 kB/s	91
SMB Premium	4096/768 kB/s	169

This price list is for February, 2007. For an updated price list, please check Grupo ICE’s website: [1]

Cable Modem services are offered by two companies - Cable Tica and Amnet.

Price ranges between 16.95 USD/month for a 256 kB/s to 64 kB/s connection to 168.95 USD/month for a 4096 kB/s to 1024 kB/s connection.

For an updated price list, please check CableTica’s website: [2] or Amnet’s website: [3]

See also : Costa Rica