QCOSTARICA – The telecommunications regulator, the Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones (SUTEL) has not found that the services provided by private operators for regional roaming at no additional cost are anti-competitive.
The complaint filed by the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), operating its cellular network under the Kolbi brandm, purported to show that its competitors in the mobile phone market, Claro (Mexico) and Movistar (Spain’s Telefonica) were implementing anti-competitive practices when setting prices for their services in the country.
However, the SUTEL has not found in favour of the complaint, and also “... ruled out establishing precautionary measures against competitors and clarified that neither committed practices contrary to law.”
Crhoy.com notes that “… the ICE’s complaint alleges that the state company can not compete on an equal footing with other companies, because it requires partnerships to be made with other operators to provide the service as it does not have its own infrastructure, as its competitors have. ”
“.. According to the expert in regulation and competition, Juan Manuel Campos, the ICE’s complaint was admissible, since Article 52 of the General Telecommunications Law states that it is up to SUTE: to determine when transactions or events taking place outside of the country, performed by operators or suppliers, may affect effective competition in the domestic market. ”
Both Claro and Movistar have operations througout the region, meanwhile ICE operates only in Costa Rica.
