Snapshot: Costa Rica's urban-rural digital divide

Costa Rica's urban-rural digital divide is deep when it comes to residential telephony, pay TV and internet, but practically non-existent regarding mobile telephony, according to the latest household survey by statistics institute Inec.

Inec collects technology data every four years, with the latest survey covering 2023.

The survey found that 23% of urban and 9% of rural households have access to fixed telephony, with the national average being 19%, compared to 30% in 2019.

The national average of households with access to pay TV fell from 71% to 60%, as 65% of urban and 46% of rural households accessed the service in 2023.

On average, 81% of households have internet access, 85% in urban and 74% in rural areas. Penetration was 82%, down from 86%.

Asked about the reasons for not having internet services, 52% of respondents mentioned the high cost as the main barrier.

In Chorotega and Pacífico Central, 30% of households did not have internet services, compared to 18% and 12%, respectively, in 2019.

However, mobile telephony is accessed by 97% of urban and 96% of rural households, similar to the previous survey.

In 2022, 5 million mobile internet accesses were registered, according to the latest figures from regulator Sutel.

ACCESS TECHNOLOGIES

Inec found that 42% of urban households access the internet via fiber optics, but only 22% of rural households.

Nationwide, access to fiber optics increased from 8% to 37%.

In urban areas, 8% access the internet via mobile devices, compared to 38% of rural households. Coaxial cable is used by 44% of urban and 40% of rural homes.

DEVICES

The survey found that a laptop or desktop is present in 51% of urban and 27% of rural households.

Tablets are present in 16% of urban and only 3.77% of rural homes.

Also, 72% of urban and 50% of rural homes have at least one IoT device, mainly smart TVs, as 67% of urban and 46% of rural homes own such a TV.