Costa Rica - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband- Statistics and Analyses

Costa Rica sees consolidation in the cable telecom sector

Costa Rica’s liberalised telecom sector has seen substantial growth in all sectors in recent years. Although the state-owned operator ICE remains the dominant provider of fixed-line services, the regional operators Claro and Movistar are significant players in the important mobile services market.

The number of fixed-lines fell for a number of years though more recently the decline has been offset by growing consumer use of VoIP services. This was stimulated by the 2014 hike in tariffs for fixed-line calls.

Costa Rica’s broadband market is the most developed in Central America, with the highest broadband penetration for this sub-region. Geographical distribution however is unequal, with a much higher digital gap than in the case of telephone services. Compared with the whole of Latin America, Costa Rica’s broadband penetration lags behind Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, and some Caribbean islands.

There was a steady increase in overall telecom sector revenue for a number of years, peaking at 24% 2014 though this has since fallen, being a more moderate 4.2% in 2016 and 3% in 2017. Fixed-line voice services account for about 5% of revenue while revenue from VoIP services, though increasing sharply in recent years, still accounts for only 1%.

The Costa Rican telecom sector has showed greater resilience than most others in the region, and with the implementation of number portability there is greater scope for increased competition in coming years.

Key developments:

Telefónica Costa Rica sold to Millicom international;
ICE secures access to Telia Carrier's Central America backbone network;
MVNO Fullmóvil shuts down;
Movistar and Claro secure licenses at auction;
Liberty Latin America (LLA) acquires an 80% stake in Cabletica;
ICE investing more in multi-technology NGN project;
Coopesantos launches FttP services in areas of San Pablo, San Marcos and Santa Maria;
Regulator adopts LRIC model to calculate access and interconnection rates;
Report includes the regulator's market data reports for 2017; telcos' financial and operating data updates, Telecom maturity Index charts and analyses, recent market developments.

Companies mentioned in this report include:

Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), RASCA, Tigo, Cable Tica.

Table of Contents

Key statistics
Country overview
Telecommunications market

Market analysis – latest developments

Regional Latin America Market Comparison

Telecom Maturity Index by tier

Top-tier – Market Leaders
Middle-tier – Market Challengers
Bottom-tier – Market Emergents
South America Telecom Maturity Index
Central America Telecom Maturity Index

TMI versus GDP
Mobile and mobile broadband penetration
Fixed and mobile broadband penetration

Regulatory environment

Background

General Telecommunications Law

Regulatory authority

Sutel

Government policies

Sector liberalisation

Universalisation Fund (Fonatel)
Interconnect
Access
Number Portability (NP)
Tariffs
DR-CAFTA

Fixed network operators

ICE
Claro

Telecommunications infrastructure

National telecom network
Internet Exchange Points (IXPs)
International infrastructure

Terrestrial networks
Submarine cable networks
Satellite networks
Infrastructure developments
Smart infrastructure

Wholesale

Broadband market

Introduction and statistical overview

Market analysis
Broadband statistics

Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) networks

RACSA

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks
Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) and Fibre-To-The-Home (FttH)
Other fixed-line broadband services

Fixed wireless (WiMAX, WiBro, Wi-Fi)
Internet via satellite

Mobile communications

Market analysis

Mobile statistics

Mobile data

SMS/MMS

Mobile broadband
Regulatory issues

Spectrum auctions
Mobile Number Portability (MNP)
Roaming

Mobile infrastructure

Overview
Digital networks

Major mobile operators

ICE (Kölbi, ICE Cellular)
Claro (América Móvil)
Movistar (Telefónica Costa Rica)
Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs)

Related reports

List of Tables

Table 1 – Top Level Country Statistics and Telco Authorities - Costa Rica – 2018 (e)
Table 2 – Evolution of GDP in Costa Rica – 2000 – 2018
Table 3 – Number of authorised telecom service operators – 2011 – 2017
Table 4 – Telecom sector revenue and annual change– 2011 – 2017
Table 5 – Revenue by sector – 2012 – 2017
Table 6 – Revenue market share by sector – 2012 – 2017
Table 7 – Fonatel investment in telecoms – 2013 – 2017
Table 8 – ICE financial data – 2010 – 2017
Table 9 – Historic - Fixed lines in service and teledensity – 1997 – 2009
Table 10 – Fixed lines in service and teledensity – 2010 – 2018
Table 11 – PSTN lines and penetration – 2010 – 2018
Table 12 – Proportion of traditional fixed and VoIP lines – 2012 – 2017
Table 13 – Fixed-line telephony revenue – 2012 – 2017
Table 14 – Fixed-line telephony and VoIP ARPU – 2012 – 2017
Table 15 – Fixed-line telephony and VoIP traffic – 2010 – 2017
Table 16 – Average telephony traffic per subscriber (fixed-line and VoIP) – 2010 – 2017
Table 17 –International bandwidth – 2007 – 2016
Table 18 – Active VoIP subscriptions and penetration – 2010 – 2018
Table 19 –VoIP market share by operator – 2013 – 2017
Table 20 – VoIP services revenue– 2011 – 2017
Table 21 – Wholesale fixed-line broadband lines – 2015 – 2017
Table 22 – Fixed-line broadband revenue and ARPU – 2011 – 2017
Table 23 – Proportion of fixed internet connections by data rate - 2015 – 2017
Table 24 – Historic - Internet users and user penetration – 1997 – 2009
Table 25 – Internet users and user penetration – 2010 – 2018
Table 26 – Fixed broadband subscribers and penetration – 2000 – 2018
Table 27 – Historic - Broadband market share by technology – 2000 – 2009
Table 28 –Fixed-line broadband market share by technology – 2015 – 2017
Table 29 – Fixed-line internet traffic and annual change– 2013 – 2017
Table 30 – Cable modem subscribers and household penetration – 2000 – 2018
Table 31 – DSL subscribers and household penetration – 2002 – 2018
Table 32 – Fibre broadband subscribers – 2010 – 2018
Table 33 – WiMAX subscribers – 2009 – 2017
Table 34 – Average traffic per mobile subscriber - 2012 – 2017
Table 35 – Mobile market share by operator - 2011 – 2017
Table 36 – Mobile market traffic - 2011 – 2017
Table 37 –Mobile revenue by service - 2012 - 2017
Table 38 –Mobile revenue by service - 2012 – 2017
Table 39 –Proportion of mobile service revenue by type - 2011 – 2017
Table 40 – Historic - Mobile subscribers and penetration - 1998 – 2009
Table 41 – Mobile subscribers and penetration - 2010 – 2018
Table 42 – Proportion of prepaid and postpaid subscribers - 2010 – 2017
Table 43 – Prepaid and contract subscribers - 2010 – 2017
Table 44 – Prepaid and contract mobile ARPU - 2014 – 2017
Table 45 – SMS and MMS traffic - 2011 – 2017
Table 46 – SMS/MMS revenue - 2011 - 2017
Table 47 – Mobile internet subscribers and penetration - 2009 – 2018
Table 48 – Mobile internet revenue - 2013 – 2017
Table 49 – Mobile internet traffic - 2013 – 2017
Table 50 – Mobile number portings - 2013 – 2017
Table 51 – Roaming revenue (SMS/MMS and voice) - 2013 – 2017
Table 52 – ICE mobile subscribers - 2012 – 2017
Table 53 – Claro mobile subscribers - 2012 – 2017
Table 54 – Movistar mobile subscribers - 2012 – 2018
Table 55 – MVNO mobile subscribers by provider - 2011 – 2017

List of Charts

Chart 1 – Revenue by sector – 2012 – 2017
Chart 2 – Revenue market share by sector – 2012 – 2017
Chart 12 – ICE financial data – 2010 – 2017
Chart 13 – Fixed lines in service and teledensity – 2005 – 2018
Chart 14 – Broadband subscribers and penetration – 2000 – 2018
Chart 15 – Cable modem subscribers and household penetration – 2000 – 2018
Chart 16 – DSL subscribers and household penetration – 2002 – 2018
Chart 17 – Mobile market share by operator - 2011 – 2017
Chart 18 – Mobile subscribers and penetration - 2005 – 2018
Chart 19 – Prepaid and contract subscribers - 2010 – 2017

List of Exhibits

Exhibit 4 – Major submarine cable networks connecting Costa Rica

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Focus Report Profile

Technologies

Broadband Fixed
Broadcasting
Companies (Major Players)
Internet
Mobile & Wireless Broadband and Media
Mobile Communications (voice and infrastructure)
Regulations & Government Policies
Strategies & Analyses (Industry & Markets)
Telecoms Infrastructure

Number of pages 107

Status Current

Last updated 15 May 2019
Update History

Analyst: Henry Lancaster

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Costa Rica - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband- Statistics and Analyses

Costa Rica sees consolidation in the cable telecom sector

Key developments:

Companies mentioned in this report include:

Key statistics

Country overview

Telecommunications market

Regional Latin America Market Comparison

Regulatory environment

Fixed network operators

Telecommunications infrastructure

Broadband market

Mobile communications

Related reports