The opening up of the telecommunications sector in Costa Rica promotes modernization and increased supply of cable TV services.

Nación.com reports that “the entry of the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) with television services, and other new entrants such as Claro and Repretel with satellite television, predicts a sharp rise in subscription services, as radical as those of mobile telephony.”

However, the slow permitting processes by the Superintendency of Telecommunications (Sutel) and the Vice Ministry of Telecommunications, are a serious hindrance and will delay this inevitable market expansion.

“With the new features a change is expected in subscription television similar to that which occurred in the cellular market, where after nearly a year of deprivatization penetration reached 104% and there is high demand for smartphones and mobile Internet.”

For companies there is appealing potential. According to the National Institute of Statistics and Census, both nationally and in the Central Region, only four out of 10 households have cable television penetration in other areas it has not even reached 2.5%.

Source: Nacion.com