The technology installed in the towers is from the 21st Century. The bureaucracy that is authorizing them is from the 19th century.

The progress of communications is getting slower in Costa Rica, with cell phone companies unable to meet the deadlines for achieving the necessary territorial coverage, because municipalities are taking up to 5.5 months to give permission for each tower.

In some municipalities requests for the installation of cellular towers have fallen into a limbo, since there are not even any rules governing them.

An article in Nacion.com reports that the government recognized that the delays in achieving territorial coverage required for the new operator’s signal is not their responsibility, so it “has granted an extension for the companies Claro and Movistar to set up coverage in the Greater Metropolitan Area (GAM). This goes from Atenas, in Alajuela, to Paraiso, in Cartago.”

A government report “also recognizes that of the 29 municipalities in the counties that make up the first phase of deployment of cellular networks, there are obstacles in the processing of building permits for the installation of towers in 27 of them.”

Source: Nacion.com