| Bureaucracy could hold up the proposed liberalisation of Costa Rica's mobile sector until 2007, according to a member of the team drawing up liberalisation legislation.
Costa Rica's government has a draft copy of the bill that proposes opening the mobile market to competition. However, according to Pedro Quirós, the bill will have to be pushed if it is to be passed in 2006 to become effective in 2007. To approve a bill, it must pass through a consultancy period with state telecommunications monopoly ICE and the public utilities regulator Aresep.
The new law would require the approval of 18 regulations that will take more than six months as well as the introduction of a telecoms regulator. This process can only begin once the draft bill has passed through the legislative assembly where it has not yet been presented.
The bill may also be treated with lower priority than a bill to take measures to strengthen ICE ahead of the implementation of the Cafta free trade agreement, which would permit partial competition in the telecommunications market. Cafta missed its January 1, 2006 implementation date after the governments of several countries failed to ratify the agreement.
Source: Business News Americas - WDR/Intelecon Regulatory News |