Costa Rica Will Create 5G Laboratories Under the New Telecommunications Plan

Costa Rica’s telecommunications development plan will include the creation of 5G laboratories, deputy telecommunications minister Orlando Vega Quesada confirmed. “Within the public policy that is going to come out in the coming weeks, there is a goal linked to the 5G experimental laboratories,” he said.

Recently, a second public consultation process on the telecommunications plan concluded. Said plan emphasizes a 5G test bed by 2023. The initiative also foresees “having multiple offers of services available to the public on networks of the 5G ecosystem no later than 2024,” added Vega Quesada.

Generating conditions

“We are generating the enabling conditions to develop them [the 5G laboratories]. I would love to tell you that we have the resources, but the fiscal situation prevents us from assuming the total cost, hence the importance of the union between private actors,” he explained.

Universities, operators and other private companies have shown their interest. The operators are especially interested in accessing the frequencies and experimenting with the technology.

Mario Montero, president of the Infocom sector chamber, said that while the 5G auction process is awaited, the time could be used to experiment with the technology.

Recovery of 3.5Ghz frequency bands

The Ministry of Science, Technology, and Telecommunications (Micitt) has just announced the recovery of 3.5Ghz frequency bands that will be tendered to the private sector so that they can deploy 5G networks. The ministry will instruct regulator Sutel to move forward with the bidding process once the bands have been released.

In parallel, the Micitt works on the recovery of new portions of spectrum for 5G services. It is estimated that the auction of 5G frequencies could take around a year and a half.