Information Technology Landscape 
in COSTA RICA

Telecommunications Infrastructure

The current telecommunications infrastruture is available to an overwhelming 92% of Costa Rica's population of 3.5 million (100% in urban areas). Currently, all telecommunications efforts are controlled by the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), the state-owned monopoly.

The basic statistics are as follows:
METRIC COSTA RICA UNITED STATES WORLD
Population:            Total (M) 1996  
                    Density (per km2) 1996		 3.40  
67		 266.56 
28		 5'778.10 
43
GDP:                Total (B US$) 1995  
                       Per capita (US$) 1995		 9.2  
2'699		 7'253.8  
27'569		 28'694.8  
5'104
Main Telephone Lines:  
                                    Total (k) 1990 
                                    Total (k) 1996 		 281.4 
525.7		 25'368 
170'568.2		 520'198.7 
743'661.7
Main Telephone Lines:  
                 per 100 inhabitants 1996 
                              % change 90 - 96		 15.47 
11.0		 63.99 
3.2		 12.88 
6.1
Waiting list for telephone lines: 
                                               1990(k) 
                                               1996(k) 
                             % change 90 - 96 		 45.2 
77.9 
9.5		 - 
- 
-		 41'417.3 
39'761.7 
-0.7
Waiting list for telephone lines: 
                     Total demand 1996 (k) 
               Satisfied demand 1996 (k) 
                Waiting time (years) 1996		 603.6 
87.1 
1.4		 30'677.8 
100.0 
-		 718'422.6 
94.9 
1.0
Local Telephone network: 
                  Capacity used (%) 1996 
                         Automatic (%) 1996 
                                Digital (%) 1996 
                        Residential (%) 1996 
          Faults/100 main lines/yr 1996		 85.8 
99.0 
61.0 
85.4 
-		 - 
100.0 
80.5 
64.9 
4.4		 82.5 
99.8 
79.2 
71.4 
22.3
Households: Households (k) 1996 
  % of household w/telephone line		 798 
-		 23'732 
91.1		 1'456'178 
 
Public telephones: Total (k) 1996 
                                     Coin (k) 1996 
                                     Card (k) 1996 
                                  PCO's (k) 1996 
              per 1'000 inhabitants 1996 
                   As % of main lines 1996		 7.78 
5.76 
.36 
1.65 
2.29 
1.48		 1'661.9 
 
 

6.23 
.97

 8'652.89 
1'295.03 
2001.26 
133.84 
1.53 
1.18
Teledensity: 
                 Overall teledensity 1996 
Largest city: 
        Population as % of total 1996 
                          Main lines (k) 1996 
                           As % of total 1996 
                              Teledensity 1996 
  Rest of country Teledensity 1996		 28.0 
 		 2.8 
 		 7.6 

84'737.4 
19.3 
21.54 
6.59 
8.66
Telephone Tariffs: Residential 
                   Connection (US$) 1996  Monthly Subscription (US$) 1996 
                       Local call (US$) 1996 
Subscription as a % of GDP per capita 1995		 63 
5.3 

- 

1.9

 43 
12.2 
 

.09 
.5

 144 
7.3 
 

.08 
8.6
Telephone Tariffs: Business 
                   Connection (US$) 1996  Monthly Subscription (US$) 1996 		 63 
7.7 		 73 
41.8		 208 
11.6 
Cellular Mobile Subscribers: 
                                              (k) 1990 
                                              (k) 1996 
                          % change 1990 - 96 
                 Per 100 inhabitants 1996 
                                   % digital 1996 
As % of total telephone subscribers 1996		 - 
46.5 
- 
1.37 
- 

8.1

 5'283.1 
44'043 
42.4 
16.52 
.7 

20.5

 11'182.4 
142'016.0 
52.7 
2.46 
38.7 

16
Cellular Tariffs:   Analog (US$) 
                              Connection 1996 
           Monthly Subscription 1996 
                   3 minute local call 1996 
                                  Digital (US$) 
                              Connection 1996 
           Monthly Subscription 1996 
                     3 minute local call 1996		  
289 
19.0 
- 

12 
22.1 
-

 54 
43.3 
- 
 
 		  
219 
33.9 
1.02 

124 
29.9 
1.05
Text Subscribers: Telex  (k) 1990 
                                              (k) 1996 
                         % change 1990 - 96  
Estimated facsimile        (k) 1990 
                                              (k) 1996 
                           % change 1990 - 96		 .7 
.1 
-26.8 
1.7 
2.2 
8.6		 62.3 
- 
- 
5'084.0 
17'000.0 
27.3		 1'374.4 
520.7 
-15.2 
16'961.7 
47'972.0 
18.5
ISDN Subscribers              (k) 1996 - 878.4 4'767.15
International Telephone Traffic 
                               M Minutes 1996 
          Minutes per inhabitant 1996 
         International circuits (k) 1996		 59.3 
17.5 
1.3		 19'172.2 
71.9 
-		 70'090.4 
12.3 
-
Satellite Earth Station 1 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean)
  Source:  ITU13

Costa Rica is the 78th member of INMARSAT

Broadband Services
A partnering agreement between Radiografica Costarricense S.A. (RACSA) of Costa Rica and El Segundo, Calif.-based Infonet Services Corp. will provide frame relay interconnections between RACSA's domestic frame relay network RASCANET and Infonet's World Network.  Access to 45 countries using frame relay and IP will be provided locally in Costa Rica.  In addition, RASCANET supplies interconnections into surrounding Central American countries.19

Future plans of ICE
Expansion plans include:

Major providers
European technology (Siemens from Germany and Alcatel from France) has dominated the telecommunication market since the 1960's through the 1990's (analog systems).  However, digital and cellular based systems developed by the United States will have a major impact on the local markets.

AT&T, Sprint and MCI are available from Costa Rica.


Return to Table of Contents

Foward to Privatization and Deregulation
Return to The Information Technology landscape in nations around the world menu
Last updated December 18, 1998