Telecommunications

The country's mobile phone carriers scored high in coverage and quality, but low on internet speed

The Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) announced rolling interruptions of phone, Internet and cable services this week in five provinces. Find out if/when it will affect you.

Union leaders are seeking the dismissal of all members of the Telecommunications Superintendency Council for an alleged conflict of interest.

ICE's appeal calls the SUTEL action illegal, inconsistent and flawed due to a “lack of proof and evidence to justify the sanction.” It also argues that ICE’s promotions did not cause any of its competitors to exit the market or block entry to new competitors.

ICE will send electronic invoices, and the company is asking customers to register email addresses at its website: kolbi.cr or at any kölbi store, ICE location or via the customer service hotline 1193. Customers also can call ICE’s automated system at 1187.

ICE was ordered to pay a ₡2.2 billion ($4 million) fine for unfair competition through a discount program aimed at attracting prepaid mobile phone users.

Works will be carry out all week at specific times and areas, according to a schedule released by ICE.

Consulting firm Demoscopía conducted the study from August to October last year, evaluating users' perception of services offered by the five phone carriers for landlines, IP phones, mobile phones and mobile Internet.

A Civil and Administrative Tribunal ordered the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) to pay ₡500,000 ($945) to two of its customers for a lack of signal that prevented them from seeking help after a traffic accident three years ago. The plaintiffs say the amount awarded is far too little.

National Restoration Party lawmaker Fabricio Alvarado this week launched a social media campaign asking mobile phone users to post a message with the hashtag #modoavioncr every time they have problems making a call, sending an SMS or using mobile Internet.

Amid a national debate over a proposed change in mobile Internet rates, a study released this week shows that rate plans from state-owned carrier Kölbi, part of the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE), are generally less expensive than competing plans with similar features.

To help us prepare for the day, Costa Rica’s National Metereological Institute (IMN) recently released its own app - a valiant effort to interpret the local troposphere for everyday people, but too full of flaws and bugs to be a worthy option.

When Mario López Estrada was head of Guatemala's state telecommunications monopoly in the 1980s, making a phone call in the war-ravaged Central American nation was a hopeless endeavor. Almost three decades later, Guatemala ranks No. 1 globally in mobile network coverage, according to a report by the World Economic Forum.

The Telecommunications Superintendency (SUTEL) on July 1 will hold a public hearing to propose a change in the way carriers charge for mobile Internet services. But angry customers are getting ready to fight back.