Costa Rica to finish ICE frequency recovery before launching 5G tender

Costa Rica aims to recover all frequencies from state company ICE before launching a 5G tender.

The tender rules should be published before the government term ends in May 2022, however. After that, regulator Sutel should handle the process, deputy telecommunications minister Teodoro Willink told BNamericas.

ICE has spectrum in the 3,500MHz bands, best suited for 5G.

Although the state could launch the tender with the 700MHz, 2,300MHz and 3,300-3,400MHz frequencies it already owns, “we have to balance. The ideal is to have 5G with all the frequencies and their different nuances, but we also need to move forward with 5G,” Willink said.

The recovery process is “long and delicate,” Willink added. “It is a delicate process that must be studied very carefully. [Minister Paola Vega] gave the instruction to continue this process that had been suspended for almost 10 years.”

But Sutel demanded swift measures so the tender launches soon.

Willink said the process is progressing in line with the schedule, with rules hopefully being published soon, so the first 5G networks emerge in 2023.

“The frequency recovery process can be very easy or long and complicated. That will depend a lot on the conditions, and on the legal bodies that are [involved],” said Willink.