The Radiográfica Costarricense (Racsa), a subsidiary of the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), has purchased the mobile cellular telephone operator Fullmóvil.
The purchase is part of Racsa’s restructuring, the strategy to regain a role in the telecommunications market, given that its flagship project, the fibre optic network to provide ultra-fast internet speeds with Via Europe is paralyzed.
By buying Fullmóvil Racsa becomes a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) of ICE’s cellular phone service, just at at the time that the state company plans to launch its 4G network.
The Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones (Sutel) says on its website that Racsa assumes Fullmóvil’s operation on February 7.
In the meantime nothing changes for customers. But Racsa has plans to introduce a number of new services.
Fullmóvil was started by Grupo Monge, the retail chain of stores that includes Play. The purchase price was not disclosed to the press.
A mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) is a wireless communications services provider that does not own the wireless network infrastructure over which the MVNO provides services to its customers. An MVNO enters into a business agreement with a mobile network operator to obtain bulk access to network services at wholesale rates, then sets retail prices independently. An MVNO may use its own customer service, billing support systems, marketing and sales personnel.
