Deputies of the Commission of Income and Public Expenditure of the Parliament of Costa Rica presented a motion in which they request to summon the authorities of the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE) and the Foreign Ministry, to explain the details of the partnership with the National Electricity Company (Enatrel) from Nicaragua.
ICE and Enatrel formed in 2015, with 50% of shares for each one, the company TECOMUNICA, which operates in Nicaragua under the trade name Tekko.
The appearance is addressed to:
- Marco Acuña, executive president of ICE
- Arnoldo André Tinoco, Foreign Minister of Costa Rica
- Irene Cañas, former executive president of ICE
- Manuel González, former foreign minister
Cañas and González are cited, because they were the respective holders when TECOMUNICA was formed. There has not yet been a response to the request of the legislators of the Public Income and Expenditure Commission.
When it was announced in 2017 the emergence of TECOMUNICA, operators in the sector expressed their fear of this company becoming a new form of unfair competition, considering that the regulatory bodies of Nicaragua and Costa Rica –through their regulatory bodies– favored this joint state initiative. The motion indicates that the core part to address with those appearing is the investment of ICE in Enatrel as of 2017.
The shadow of the dictatorship in TECOMUNICA
The Costa Rican portal El Observador consulted Eli Feinzaig, head of the faction of the Progressive Liberal Party that is part of the Commission, about the reasons for this appearance, who said that it was motivated by fears aroused by the repressive and espionage apparatus of the Daniel dictatorship Ortega and Rosario Murillo.
“ICE, being a public company, has the imperative to follow a line of ethical investment, which conflicts with the concept of entering into a partnership with the Ortega regime in a business such as information technology, which is precisely used for espionage and control of its citizens”, declared the Costa Rican deputy.
Tekko currently offers Internet connection services (residential, business and corporate), digital television and installation services for cameras and security systems. Until now, it has not ventured into the mobile or fixed telephony market, just like Yota Y cootel, the other operators linked to the Ortega regime.
Yotaa Russian capital and technology company that offers Internet access, and xinweiproperty of controversial Chinese businessman Wang Jing, that operates in Nicaragua with the trademark cootel, that never managed to establish itself in the market, despite all the government encouragement it received.
Last December 3, CONFIDENTIAL revealed that the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo arranged three frequency bands to introduce 5G technology in Nicaragua, in a context in which the main telecommunications operators in the country, Tigo and Claro, are under a veiled threat of the dictatorship to its operationsafter Ortega accused them of benefiting from an advantageous tax regime established during their privatization processes.
The Institute of Telecommunications and Posts (Telcor), regulatory body for the sector, issued the administrative agreement 02-2022published in La Gaceta, Official State Gazette, on Thursday, November 24, reporting the reservation of the frequency bands 3300-3400, 3400-3600 and 3600-3700 megahertz for the deployment of 5G technology services in Nicaragua.
It is estimated that the telecommunications industry in Nicaragua will generate income of 667.1 million dollars in 2022. In the country there are around six million mobile lines, a segment in which Claro has around 55% participation and Tigo has almost all the the rest. 100% of the municipalities have cellular coverage, (consequently, mobile internet access), which covers 85% of the population. In addition, 45% of the municipalities have LTE (or 4G) technology.
