Love It Or Hate It, ICE Continues To Dominate Cellular Market in Costa Rica
State telecom has 93% share of 101.11% market penetration

You have to give Costa Rica's state telecom kudos for their marketing blitz and preventing what many thought would be the end of the institution with the opening of the telecommunications market and the arrival of foreign operators in the country.

The seeds were being planted even before the approval of the telecommunications law was passed in 2007, as the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), stalled and stalled and stalled and some scratched their head at the little chirping frog promoting the Kölbi brand of mobile services.

Today, almost three months after giants Movistar and Claro entered the market, the majority of Costa Ricans are sticking with the frog, keeping the competition at bay.

In a statement by the Estadísticas del Ministerio de Ambiente, Energía y Telecomunicaciones and ICE, there are 4.404.000 mobile services subscribers in Costa Rica.

The number represents a market penetration of 101.11%.

ICE says it has a 93% market share, meaning over 4 million subscribers - of which it includes 100.000 clients of Tuyo Movil operated by Televisora de Costa Rica (Teletica) under a reseller agreement.

Of the other two, the Mexico's America Movil brand Claro is ahead, though not by much, of the Spain's Telefonica brand Movistar.

Claro claims to have 154.000 subscribers or a 3.49% share, while Movistar has only 150.000 customers or 3.40% of the market.

No numbers were available, though are included in the 101.11%, of the number of customers by virtual operators like Full Movil.

There are many possible reasons why many Costa Ricans have not or are refusing to switch, one being national pride, many choosing to stick to the "Tico" way of things, while probably more likely is the lack of number portability>

While ICE dallies and stalls on this issue, it continues to take advantage that the majority of the postpaid customers have had their number for years and switching operators would mean a change in number.

Another reason is the coverage issue. Rumours are that Claro and Movistar do not have national coverage or their coverage is inferior to ICE who has been building their infrastructure for years.

Another possible reason is the cost, citing examples in other countries where Movistar, especially, is more costly. However, that argument does not apply in Costa Rica as call rates and discounts are government controlled.

In Costa Rica, the only area - at least for now - where operators have freedom of pricing and competition is in the pricing of equipment.

Of course, another major influence is the fact that Costa Ricans are slow to change. And some, though they like to bad mouth ICE at every opportunity enjoy the love/hate relationship that for some has is the only operator they have ever known.

Here's an interesting and true story. Your editor at Inside Costa Rica recently walked into the Movistar store at Multiplaza and asked "can I sign up here?". "Claro, que si" (of course you can) is the answer from the Movistar employee.  Uh, are we in the wrong store? We couldn't make this up!