Costa Rica to auction 3 mobile licences by April 2010

www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Costa Rica’s Ministry of the Environment, Energy and Telecommunications (Minaet) will give away three mobile services provision licenses by April 2010. According to a media report, Minaet will establish the spectrum bands and sub-bands to be auctioned. Presently, the government is mulling two options to assign the spectrum.  Minaet will either launch a traditional auction, where the operator offering more money wins the license, or a combined process including a pre-selection followed by an auction. The tender will be launched in September, with the first mobile license to be awarded between March and April 2010. Hannia Vega, Telecommunications Vice-Minister said that the first mobile concession winner is expected to launch operations at mid-2010. Four operators plan to bid for a mobile license, including Tigo-Amnet, Telefonica, Digicel and Cable and Wireless. “Costa Rica has a great potential, being one of the most important countries in the region in some country areas the penetration rate is low and this is an opportunity for us”, says Miguel Calderon, Telefonica’s director of strategy and regulation for Mexico and Central America. According to Gloria Ortega, CEO of Tigo Colombia, the operator plans to launch operations in Costa Rica as soon as possible via its subsidiary Amnet. According to C&W Panama CEO, Jorge Nicolau, investments to develop the necessary mobile telephony infrastructure in Costa Rica exceed USD 400 million.