Given below are numbers that provide a detailed insight into the current state of Information and Communications technology (ICT) sector in Costa Rica and benchmark its key characteristics against aggregate indices reflecting similar sectors of economy in Latin America and Caribbean (LA&C), and what, according to World Bank classification, is termed Upper Middle Income (UMI) countries. For comparison purposes, data for Costa Rica are given for 1995 and 2001, for the other two categories – only for 2001. ³

Country Background Information

	Costa Rica		Latin America & Caribbean	Upper Middle Income
	1995	2001	2001	2001
Population, mid year (millions)	3.4	3.9	523.7	503.7
Poverty (% of population below $1 a day)	-	6.9	-	-
Adult literacy rate (% ages 15 and over)	94.8	95.7	88.7	90.4
Urban population (% of total population)	56.4	59.5	75.8	77.2
GNI per capita (Atlas method, $)	3,290.0	3,950.0	3,560.4	4,460.0
GNI per capita (PPP, $)	6,670.0	8,080.0	7,070.0	8,730.0
GDP growth (1990-95 and 1995-2001, %)	5.9	5.1	2.5	2.7
Scientists and engineers in R&D (per millionion people)	-	532.8	286.8	452.6
Expenditures for R&D (% of GNI)	0.2	0.1	0.6	0.6

Source: The World Bank Group, ICT at a Glance

Analysis

Overall, Costa Rica appears to have the upper hand in most categories. For example, the adult literacy in Costa Rica is the highest compared to LA&C and the world’s UMI countries. Urban population is almost 20% lower than in the case of the other two country groups, which speaks to the level of relative development of rural areas. Further, Gross National Income (GNI) per capita is $1,010 higher in Costa Rica than in LA&C countries, but 650 dollars lower compared to that of the Upper Middle Income countries. The number of scientists and engineers dedicated to R&D (per million people) is almost double that of LA&C countries and almost 20% higher than in Upper Middle Income countries. However, the percentage of gross domestic income spent for R&D by Costa Rica (as of 2001) is less than 20% of that spent by the other two country groups.

ICT Infrastructure and Access

	Costa Rica		Latin America & Caribbean	Upper Middle Income
	1995	2000	2000	2000
Telephone mainlines
Per 1,000 people	144	249	248	190
In largest city (per 1,000 people)	446	478	175	202
Waiting list (thousands)	65	35	4,404	7,594
Waiting time (years)	-	0.3	0.5	0.5
Revenue per line ($)	459	296	889	867
Cost of local call ($ per 3 minutes)	0.03	0.02	0.06	0.07
Mobile phones (per 1,000 people)	6	52	123	160
International telecommunications
Outgoing traffic (minutes per subscriber)	111	81	106	93
Cost of call to U.S. ($ per 3 minutes)	-	1.93	3.20	2.64
Daily newspapers (per 1,000 people)	87	91	71	95
Radios (per 1,000 people)	269	816	413	457
Television sets (per 1,000 people)	225	231	269	317

Source: The World Bank Group - ICT at a Glance

Analysis

In this area, Costa Rica is better off than the other two country groups: it has more fixed telephone lines per 1,000 population, and the waiting time for a new line is almost two times lower. All existing phone lines are subsidized by the state and therefore the revenue per line is significantly lower that in the other two categories.  Costa Rican telecom provider is a state-owned monopoly which provides services to its users at a price lower than the market price so that telephone becomes a utility affordable to people from all socioeconomic strata. Hence, the cost of a local three-minute call is less than 50% that in LA&C and UMI countries. A call to the U.S. per three minutes is 40 % cheaper than from the Latin American countries and almost 30% cheaper than from the Upper Middle Income countries. In Costa Rica, the number of mobile phones is relatively low. This is mainly because the Costa Rican state-owned company did not start providing this service until 1995. Previously, the service had been provided by Millicom (a U.S. company). Its prices were very high and, as a result, the market penetration was very low.

Computers and the Internet - ICT Business and Government Environment

	Costa Rica		Latin America & Caribbean	Upper Middle Income
Computers & the Internet
	1995	2000	2000	2000
Personal computers
Per 1,000 people	-	149.1	43.6	58.9
Installed in education (thousands)	-	-	-	-
Networked PCs (%)	-	-	-	-
Internet
Users (thousands)	14.5	250.0	19,096.0	26,349.4
Monthly off-peak access charges
Service provider charge ($)	-	16.0a	-	20.4a
Telephone usage charge ($)	-	0.10a	-	0.42a
ICT business & government environment
(ratings from 1 to 7; 7 is highest/best)	1995	2000	2000	2000
Internet speed and access	-	3.2	3.9	4.0
Internet effects on business	-	3.7	3.6	3.6
Highly skilled IT job market	-	5.3	4.0	4.6
Competition in ISPs	-	3.0	4.5	4.8
Government online services availability	-	3.2	3.3	3.7
Laws relating to ICT use	-	3.4	3.3	3.7
Secure servers	-	56a	2,199a	3,271a

Source: The World Bank Group - ICT at a Glance

Analysis

In 2001, Costa Rica had 3.42 times more computers per one thousand users than LA&C and 2.53 times as many as in the UMI countries of the world. The penetration rate of the Internet is 6.41%, which is 2.77% more than in LA&C (3.64%) and 1.18% more than in UMI countries (5.23%). The telephone usage charge and the ISP charge are well below the upper middle income countries, and this too is a contributing factor to the higher level of penetration of the Internet. Further disparity is observed in the cases of level of skills of IT personnel (Costa Rica is clearly ahead), competition among ISPs (state monopoly limits it dramatically) and Internet speed and access (bandwidth capability was limited due to dependency on satellite links, while now with the MAYA-1 submarine cable in place that limitation is no longer substantial).

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