New Internet Service Would Boost Costa Rican Business

Mike Godfrey, Tax-news.com, New York

13 February 2001

According to a report in Costa Rica newspaper the Tico Times, there could be good news on the horizon for businesses in the central American country who utilise the Internet. Costa Rica's current Internet infrastructure can be slow and erratic, but plans are in the pipeline to introduce a cheaper, faster and more reliable service called "Internet 2".

The new service will come courtesy of the Costa Rica Electricity Institute (ICE). ICE’s assistant manager of Telecom, Alvaro Retana, and Science and Technology Minister Guy de Téramond, announced last week the imminent arrival of new data transmission infrastructure that will make Internet 2 available in the San José region from March 2001 and the rest of the country by the end of the year.

Businesses have generally responded positively to the news. The Tico Times quoted Alejandro Filloy, president of Costa-Rica based Gammacom International Telecom Services, as saying: 'I applaud that ICE has finally figured out some of the services that Costa Rica needs and is making an effort to provide those services, but I’ll reserve other comments until we see the system up and working.'

The new Internet service will be made possible by the arrival last December of Costa Rica's "spur" of an undersea fiber-optic strand, known as Maya Cable. The cable allows the country to connect to the Internet at faster speeds than the current, satellite-based system, and it is independent of the telephone line.

René-Pierre Bondu, general manager of Continex, which designs, installs and services data communications networks, said: 'By all accounts, ICE’s entrance into Internet 2 is a very positive thing for Costa Rica, but it seems to me that ICE has, in the past, tried to implement a little of everything, without looking for a clear integration of services or path to follow into the future.'

Internet 2 will begin as a pilot project linking existing copper-wire data transmission infrastructure with new digital data "routers" capable of transmitting video, data and voice digitally, via Maya Cable. The San Jose area will be the first to benefit and the plan is for ICE to expand its current fibre-optic cable network to the rest of the country and buy more routers and equipment.

Science and Technology Minister Mr Teramond is convinced that the arrival of Internet 2 will be of tremendous benefit to Costa Rican companies and individuals. Among other things, he said that electronic banking and financial services would expand, e-commerce would really take hold, and government services and information will become easily accessible.

Mr Teramond stated: 'Without an easy, economical and quality access to the Internet by everyone in the country, e-commerce will never take off here. Those who can’t afford to have an Internet 2 connection in their homes will have only to walk to their corner Internet café to access these services. In fact, we expect that this technology will cause Internet cafés to proliferate – we’d like to see one on every block.'

It is hoped that foreign investors too will be lured to Costa Rica by a cheaper and more efficient Internet service. ICE's Alvaro Retana said: 'Companies that were considering investment in Costa Rica did an about-face and headed elsewhere when they found out what fast Internet cost here. This new technology will combine with Costa Rica’s skilled workforce and (relatively) low wages to cause foreign companies to take a second look.'

.

Recommended

Write a comment