UCR Report Sees Challenges for Telecom Sector Opening

A University of Costa Rica report titled "Towards an Information and Knowledge Society" prepared by the Program for an Information Society and Knowledge Economy at the university states that 2011 will be a key year for the opening of the telecommunications markets in Costa Rica.

The report warns that SUTEL must become a full-fledged regulatory agency and that most of the first year goals outlined in the National Plan for Development of Telecommunications have not been completed.  The entire second chapter of the report is dedicated to outlining advances, setbacks and obstacles encountered since the approval of the CAFTA agreement and the accompanying legislation.

The report states that 2011 must be a year that SUTEL consolidates itself and increases its technical capabilities so that it may complete its duties established by law and particularly reach the goals outlined for the FONATEL Fund (National Telecommunications Fund).

Juan Manuel Villasuso, director of the program, told the University newspaper Semanario that one of the major obstacles in the opening of the markets is the lack of communication between parties involved, such as SUTEL, ICE and ARESEP, which leads to confrontations.   Another issue is that some portions of the law were not clear enough, this was pointed out by some observers at the time, but since the law had to be approved by a set deadline, there was no time to fix the omissions, which is now causing some problems.  He also stated that the ICE has dragged its feet in many areas, trying to delay the opening of the market as long as possible.

The report maybe found at http://www.prosic.ucr.ac.cr/prosic2010/informe2010.html (Spanish)