Infrastructure

One of the greatest challenges facing Costa Rica is the maintenance of its infrastructure . Investments in this area have kept pace with economic growth.

Airports and Seaports

Costa Rica have two International Airports and more than 30 regional airports.
- International Airports:
  - Juan Santamaria International Airport, located at 5km, (9.3 mi) of the city capital San José.
  - Daniel OduberInternational Airport, located at the city of Liberia, Guanacaste ( for tourism reception only) .
- Three International Seaports:
  - Caldera (Pacific Ocean),
  - Limon ( for tourism reception only) and
  - Moin(Caribbean Sea)
- Seven customs office for foreign trade:
  - At the border with Panama (Paso Canoas) and Nicaragua (PeñasBlancas),
  - In Atlantic (Limón) and Pacific ports (Caldera),
  - In the Juan Santamaria International Airport and the rest (Central and la Anexión) are located at different points in the country.

Road Network

Asphalt. 4,499 km, (2,812 mi)
Gravel, 2,930 km, (1,831 mi)
Urban Roads (Asphalt), 3,584 km, (2,240 mi)
Rural Roads (Ballast), 21,137 km, (13,211 mi)
Non-clasified 3,670 km, (2,294 mi)
Roads at a national level that are maintained by CONAVI
Roads at a canton level that the MOPT and the municipalities mantain
Total length of roads 35.820 km (22.388 mi)

Source: CONAVI

Costa Rica offers a solid utilities infrastructure…

Electricity

95% of electricity is generated from renewable sources (hydroelectric, geothermal, biomass, and wind)
Competitive electricity rates (US$ / KWh)

Period Rate

Peak Period                           0.07 –0.11
Valley Period                       0.036 –0.044
NightPeriod                          0.025 –0.035

Peak Period: 10:01 AM –12:30 PM, 05:31 PM –08:00 PM

Valley Period: 06:01 AM –10:00 AM, 12:31 PM –05:30 PM

Night Period: 08:01 PM –6:00 AM

Source: ARESEP, April 2010

Electricity availability is assured

Country’s current capacity to be doubled in 2016 (up to 4,018 MW)
Private production of electricity will increase in more than 250 MW during the next three years
Several industrial parks have redundancy through the connection to a second electrical substation within the national interconnected system

Canada	6.6
United States	6.4
Czech Republic	6.4
Ireland	6.0
Uruguay	5.7
Chile	5.7
Malaysia	5.7
Costa Rica	5.6
Croatia	5.5
Panama	5.2
Puerto Rico	5.1
Colombia	5.1
China	5.0
Honduras	4.1
Philippines	4.0
Mexico	3.9
Argentina	3.5
India	3.2
Dominican Republic	1.7

Quality of electricity supply is:
1 = worse than in most other countries
7= meets the highest standards in the world

Source: World Economic Forum. The Global Competitiveness Report 2009 -2010

Telecommunication

Redundant fiber optic submarine cables ( Maya & Arcos; Pacific Global Crossing )
Satellite and terrestrial microwave network inplace to meet demand in fixed , mobile and Internet services
New multinational players are expected to enter the market in 2011, providing private networks, Internet and mobile phone services

Abundant water supply

Industrial parks for manufacturing facilities can provide more than 350,000 gallons of water per day.

Costa Rica opened the telecommunication sector in mid 2009

Costa Rica opened the Internetand mobile sectors to private operators.
Fixed telephone lines will continue to be operated by ICE (one public player)
Market openness will be regulated by the Superintendence of Telecommunications (SUTEL). This body was created last year and it grants permits to operate in this sector 45 new companies are already authorized to operate in the country. They are offering many services such as voice/television over IP, Internet access and private networks, among others.
Mobile sector will be opened in the second semester of 2010
SUTEL is granting concessions for three frequency groups of Costa Rican radio – electric spectrum ( concession term=25 years)
Auction mechanism: sealed – bid. Every frequency group will be granted to the best price. Abidder shall win only one frequency group
SUTEL expects to have 3 new players in the mobile sector at the end of 2010

Source: CINDE based on data from SUTEL (January 2010)

Telecom Rates

Symmetric Internet Access

T1 (1,544 kbps):$16 (installation fee), $81.51 (per month)
E1 (2,048 kbps): $16 (installation fee), $121.17 (per month)
4,096 kbps: $16 (installation fee), $206.67 (per month)

International Links (Submarine fiber cable)

E1 (2,048 kbps): $2,960 (2 year contract, ½ segment)
DS-3 (45 Mbps): $26,080 (2 year contract, ½ segment)

Source: ARESEP, 2010

Public infrastructure concessions move in a positive direction

Juan SantamariaInternational Airport was remodeled in 2008. New improvements are under way
Caldera Highway connects the GMA with the Pacific Port . Recently inaugurated
Ongoing plans to remodel the Limon and Moinports (Atlantic Coast)

Costa Rica has ports in the Caribbean and Pacific coasts

Port Limon –Moin
- 2009: 748,029 TEUS
- Ranks 15 in Latin America by volume Port volume
Port Caldera
- 2009: 127,658 TEUS
- Ranks 38 in Latin America by volume

TEU: Twenty foot equivalent unit

Source: Latin America’s Top 50 Ports Report, 2010. Latin Business Chronicle based on data from ECLAC

Communications
Country	Newspapers	Radios	TV Sets ^a	Cable subscribers ^a	Mobile Phones ^a	Fax Machines ^a	Computers Personal ^a	Internet Hosts ^b	Internet Users ^b
	1996	1997	1998	1998	1998	1998	1998	1999	1999
Costa Rica	94	271	387	13.8	28	2.3	39.1	10.41	150
United States	215	2,146	847	244.3	256	78.4	458.6	1,508.77	74,100
Mexico	97	325	261	15.7	35	3.0	47.0	23.02	1,822
Nicaragua	30	285	190	40.2	4	N/A	7.8	2.21	20
^a Data are from International Telecommunication Union, World Telecommunication Development Report 1999 and are per 1,000 people.
^b Data are from the Internet Software Consortium ( http://www.isc.org ) and are per 10,000 people.
SOURCE: World Bank. World Development Indicators 2000.

handle, and the communication and power networks are not strong enough for the country’s demands. A law was passed in 1998 to allow the development and administration of the infrastructure through private contracts, but by 2000 not one contract had been granted.

Costa Rica’s communication infrastructure is less advanced than other Latin American countries. For example, in 1998 telephone lines per 1,000 inhabitants were at 172, better than the Latin American average of 118. But cellular phones per 1,000 inhabitants were at 28, caompared with 43 for all of Latin America, while Internet hosts were at 0.85 per 1,000 inhabitants compared to 4.85 for Latin America. Television sets were at a level of 387 per 1,000 inhabitants, compared to 255 per 1,000 for Latin America, but cable subscribers were at 13.8 per 1,000, compared to 28.3 per 1,000 for Latin America.

The country has over 35,705 kilometers (22,187 miles) of roads, of which 20 percent corresponds to national highways and 80 percent to local roads. About 56 percent of the national roads and 12 percent of the local roads are paved. Two major projects were underway by the end of 2000 to improve the carrying capacity of the main roads connecting the capital to the Pacific Coast.

Electric power generation and telecommunications are handled by a state monopoly, the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE). Efforts to open these sectors to competition and privatization sparked riots and public protests in early 2000. The government claimed that it needed help from the private sector in order to service demand. Rioters were afraid that privatization would result in higher rates and the neglect of rural locations. The country’s power source is mostly hydroelectric, although geothermal and wind sources are also used. The Costa Rican Congress was discussing a restructuring of the ICE in 2000-01 that would allow the establishment of joint ventures for the development of energy and telecommunication projects. It would, however, fall short of allowing competition by private participants in these sectors.

An index compiled by the Instituto Centroamericano de Administración de Empresas (INCAE), the Harvard Institute for International Development, and the Central American Bank for Economic Integration shows Costa Rican infrastructure lagging behind that of other Central American and East Asian countries. Values assessed ranged from 1 to 7 with higher values representing better infrastructure conditions. Costa Rica obtained a value of 2.29 compared to 3.46 for Guatemala, 3.56 for Nicaragua, 4.55 for South East Asia, and 4.64 for the United States, Japan, Ireland, Sweden, and China. This means that Costa Rican business faces greater challenges to compete against other nations.