Telecommunications in Costa Rica

Telecommunications in Costa Rica include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet.

Radio and television

• Radio stations: more than 100 privately owned radio stations and a public radio network (2007).^[1]
• Radios: 980,000 (1997).

• Television stations: multiple privately owned TV stations and 1 publicly owned TV station; cable network services are widely available (2007).^[1]
• Television sets: 525,000 (1997).

Telephones

• Communications service provider: Grupo ICE, government monopoly.
• Calling code: +506^[1]
• International call prefix: 00^[2]
• Main lines: 1.0 million lines in use, 75th in the world (2012).^[1]
• Mobile cellular: 6.2 million lines, 100th in the world (2012).^[1]
• Telephone system: good domestic telephone service in terms of breadth of coverage; under the terms of CAFTA-DR, the state-run telecommunications monopoly is scheduled to be opened to competition from domestic and international firms, but has been slow to open to competition, point-to-point and point-to-multi-point microwave, fiber-optic, and coaxial cable link rural areas; connected to Central American Microwave System,^[1] a trunk microwave radio relay system that links the countries of Central America and Mexico with each other.^[3] (2011).
• Satellite earth stations: 2 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean) (2011).^[1]
• Communications cables: landing points for the Americas Region Caribbean Ring System (ARCOS-1), MAYA-1, and the Pan-American Crossing submarine cables that provide links to South and Central America, parts of the Caribbean, and the US (2011).^[1]

Internet

• Top-level domain: .cr,^[1] the Academia Nacional de Ciencias is the registrar.
• Internet users: 194,269 users, 154th in the world; 34.7% of the population, 123rd in the world (2012).^[4][5]
• Fixed broadband: 32,192 subscriptions, 120th in the world; 5.7% of population, 98th in the world (2012).^[4][6]
• Wireless broadband: Unknown (2012).^[7]
• Internet hosts: 147,258 hosts, 78th in the world (2012).^[1]
• IPv4: 44,032 addresses allocated, less than 0.05% of the world total, 78.6 addresses per 1000 people (2012).^[8][9]
• Internet Service Providers: 2 ISPs (1999):
  • Consumer ADSL services are only offered by Grupo ICE.
  • Cable Modem services are offered by two companies countrywide, Cable Tica and Amnet. Several other companies offer local cable modem services.
  • Six new ISP licenses were awarded by regulator Sutel in June 2009. The licenses include the right to provide VoIP services.

Internet censorship and surveillance

There are no government restrictions on access to the Internet or credible reports that the government monitors e-mail or Internet chat rooms without judicial oversight.^[10]

The constitution provides for freedom of speech and press, and the government generally respects these rights in practice. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a functioning democratic political system combine to ensure freedom of speech and press. Individuals are generally free to criticize the government openly without reprisal. The law limits hate speech in publications with regard to ethnic origin, race, or color.^[10]

The government continues to support legislation that imposes criminal penalties, including lengthy jail sentences instead of fines, for press infractions such as libel. Journalists believe such legislation promotes self-censorship. In July 2012 the president enacted Article 288, which includes amendments to the criminal code which establish a sentence of between four to eight years' imprisonment for any individual trying to obtain inappropriately secret political information. Journalists and media organizations criticized the law, arguing it restricted access to information of public interest.^[10]

See also

• Radio Club de Costa Rica, a non-profit club for amateur radio enthusiasts.
• Media of Costa Rica

References

•  This article incorporates public domain material from the CIA World Factbook document "2014 edition".
•  This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Department of State.

External links

• Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones (SUTEL) (Spanish).
• NIC.cr, registrar for the .cr domain.

Costa Rica topics History Pre-Columbian history New Granada Captaincy General (Guatemalan) Federal Republic of Central America Civil War (1948) Geography Cities Deforestation Islands Mountains National parks Rivers Water resources Wildlife World Heritage Sites Politics Administrative divisions Elections Foreign relations International rankings Legislative Assembly Military Political parties Presidents Public finances Supreme Court Economy Agriculture Colón (currency) Telecommunications Tourism Transport Unions Society Demographics Education Ethnic groups Health Languages Religion Water supply and sanitation Culture Anthem Cinema Coat of arms Cuisine Flag Literature Media Music Public holidays Sport Outline Index Category Portal WikiProject

Telecommunications History Beacon Broadcasting Communications satellite Computer network Drums Electrical telegraph Fax Heliographs Hydraulic telegraph Internet Mass media Mobile phone Optical telecommunication Optical telegraphy Photophone Prepaid mobile phone Radio Radiotelephone Satellite communications Smoke signals Telecommunications history Telegraphy Telephone The Telephone Cases Television Timeline of communication technology Undersea telegraph line Videoconferencing Videophone Videotelephony Pioneers Edwin Howard Armstrong John Logie Baird Alexander Graham Bell Tim Berners-Lee Jagadish Chandra Bose Vint Cerf Claude Chappe Lee de Forest Philo Farnsworth Reginald Fessenden Elisha Gray Guglielmo Marconi Alexander Stepanovich Popov Johann Philipp Reis Nikola Tesla Camille Papin Tissot Alfred Vail Charles Wheatstone Vladimir K. Zworykin Transmission media Coaxial cable Free-space optical Optical fiber Radio waves Telephone lines Terrestrial microwave Molecules Network topology and switching Links Nodes Terminal node Network switching (circuit packet) Telephone exchange Multiplexing Space-division Frequency-division Time-division Polarization-division Orbital angular-momentum Code-division Networks ARPANET BITNET Computer Ethernet FidoNet Internet ISDN LAN Mobile NGN Public Switched Telephone Radio Telecommunications equipment Television Telex WAN Wireless World Wide Web By continent Telecommunications in Africa Sovereign states Algeria Angola Benin Botswana Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Comoros Democratic Republic of the Congo Republic of the Congo Djibouti Egypt Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Ethiopia Gabon The Gambia Ghana Guinea Guinea-Bissau Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) Kenya Lesotho Liberia Libya Madagascar Malawi Mali Mauritania Mauritius Morocco Mozambique Namibia Niger Nigeria Rwanda São Tomé and Príncipe Senegal Seychelles Sierra Leone Somalia South Africa South Sudan Sudan Swaziland Tanzania Togo Tunisia Uganda Zambia Zimbabwe States with limited recognition Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Somaliland Dependencies and other territories Mayotte / Réunion (France) Saint Helena / Ascension Island / Tristan da Cunha (United Kingdom) Western Sahara Telecommunications in Asia Sovereign states Afghanistan Armenia Azerbaijan Bahrain Bangladesh Bhutan Brunei Burma (Myanmar) Cambodia China Cyprus East Timor (Timor-Leste) Egypt Georgia India Indonesia Iran Iraq Israel Japan Jordan Kazakhstan North Korea South Korea Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Lebanon Malaysia Maldives Mongolia Nepal Oman Pakistan Philippines Qatar Russia Saudi Arabia Singapore Sri Lanka Syria Tajikistan Thailand Turkey Turkmenistan United Arab Emirates Uzbekistan Vietnam Yemen States with limited recognition Abkhazia Nagorno-Karabakh Northern Cyprus Palestine South Ossetia Taiwan Dependencies and other territories British Indian Ocean Territory Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Hong Kong Macau Telecommunications in Europe Sovereign states Albania Andorra Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belarus Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Kazakhstan Latvia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macedonia Malta Moldova Monaco Montenegro Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia San Marino Serbia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Turkey Ukraine United Kingdom States with limited recognition Abkhazia Kosovo Nagorno-Karabakh Northern Cyprus South Ossetia Transnistria Dependencies and other territories Åland Faroe Islands Gibraltar Guernsey Jersey Isle of Man Svalbard Other entities European Union Telecommunications in North America Sovereign states Antigua and Barbuda Bahamas Barbados Belize Canada Costa Rica Cuba Dominica Dominican Republic El Salvador Grenada Guatemala Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Panama Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Trinidad and Tobago United States Dependencies and other territories Anguilla Aruba Bermuda Bonaire British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Curaçao Greenland Guadeloupe Martinique Montserrat Navassa Island Puerto Rico Saint Barthélemy Saint Martin Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saba Sint Eustatius Sint Maarten Turks and Caicos Islands United States Virgin Islands Telecommunications in Oceania Sovereign states Australia Fiji Indonesia Kiribati Marshall Islands Federated States of Micronesia Nauru New Zealand Palau Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon Islands Tonga Tuvalu Vanuatu Associated states of New Zealand Cook Islands Niue Dependencies and other territories American Samoa Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Easter Island French Polynesia Guam Hawaii New Caledonia Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Pitcairn Islands Tokelau Wallis and Futuna Telecommunications in South America Sovereign states Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Guyana Paraguay Peru Suriname Uruguay Venezuela Dependencies and other territories Falkland Islands French Guiana South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Telecommunications Telecommunication Telecommunication Mass surveillance