A ruling in mid-July by Costa Rica’s Supreme Court (Sala IV) ordered the country’s telecommunications superintendent (Sutel)  to establish minimum connection speeds for their “fair use” policy that has recently caused mobile users to have their Internet speed.

The court responded to an injunction filed against Sutel’s implementation of the policy by giving the superintendent four months to set a uniform minimal connectivity speed that all providers must adhere to when implementing the policy.

The policy dictates that once a mobile Internet user reaches their monthly plan amount, their speed will be reduced. Since early this year, each carrier has decided on their own minimal speed to which they bump users who go over their plans.

Now Sutel must establish a minimum speed that all operators must respect, and also must define the exact period for which the policy – which was described as Sutel as a temporary measure to unclog the Internet – will be in place.

 

The judges also ruled that if Sutel does not comply with the several the deadlines stipulated in the ruling, it will order the elimination of the fair use policy.

The Supreme Court said that access to the Internet is not only a fundamental right in itself, but also a tool that incalculably enhances the exercise of other fundamental rights, such as the right to information, transparency in public management, freedom of expression, access education, among many others.

“Because the resources of the mobile Internet networks are limited, the application of a fair use policy is justified for those who make an irrational use of it. However, such a policy can not harm people’s minimal fundamental rights. This right is affected when the speed of mobile Internet is reduced to such a low level that virtually renders that resource unusable or non-functional,” added Judges Cruz Castro, Castillo Víquez, Rueda Leal, Salazar Alvarado and Pacheco Salazar in the sentence.

The judges also found in their analysis that the Sutel violated the fundamental rights of access to the Internet, by letting each operator define its minimal connection speed level and by failing to specify the time period for which the limit will be applied.