Open telecoms market benefits Costa Ricans

Costa Rican cellphone users now benefit from better coverage, higher connection speeds and innovative packages after the country's government opened the sector to private investment three years ago, Costa Rican daily La República reported.

Now there are more cellphone lines than inhabitants, with an average 7.8 million active lines and a penetration rate of 151 percent.

That figure is three times higher than the 2.5 million lines in 2011, before the sector was opened and operators Movistar, subsidiary of Spain's Telefónica, and Claro, part of billionaire Carlos Slim's América Móvil, entered the market.

Full story (in Spanish)