Costa Rica’s Superintendency of Telecommunications (Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones, Sutel) has urged the government to help it recover unused and underused spectrum in the 2.6GHz band, which it deems to be ‘vital for the development of 5G in Costa Rica’. The demand follows high-level government intervention to help secure the 3.5GHz band for 5G use (see below). As before, state-backed utility firm/telco Grupo ICE (and its RACSA subsidiary) has been named as the culprit.

Gilbert Camacho Mora, president of the Sutel Council, stated: ‘The Executive Branch must continue with the immediate actions necessary to recover these resources, because they have the technical and legal criteria to move forward. A further delay in the arrival of 5G in the country means a loss of competitiveness and loss of investment in the country, as well as a limitation to the benefits that users could receive from these technologies.’

Previously, on 7 September president Rodrigo Chaves Robles confirmed that he has signed an agreement which will see state-backed utility firm/telco Grupo ICE return its unused 5G-suitable spectrum in the 3.5GHz band. The agreement covered frequencies in the 3400MHz-3500MHz and 3600MHz-3625MHz bands.

In addition to the 2.6GHz and 3.5GHz bands, TeleGeography notes that Grupo ICE has previously been accused of under-use of spectrum in the 1400MHz and 26GHz bands.

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