The only countries in America where mobile phone prices are still regulated are El Salvador and Costa Rica. It is no coincidence that these countries are among the last in the rankings for speed of mobile internet services.

EDITORIAL

And it is no coincidence that these two countries also suffer from the existence of the heaviest controlling bureaucracies in the Central American isthmus, with clear consequences for the slow adaptation to changes experienced by the global economy, particularly globalization.

In 2011 an article by BBC World stressed that the degree of development of nations is now measured by “access to internet, particularly to fixed broadband.” Five years later, a fall in sales of desktop computers in contrast to the rapid rise of mobile devices has meant that the development measurement has changed, using speed of mobile internet connection as a parameter instead.

Pablo Bello, executive director of the American Association of Telecommunications Companies (ASIET), told Elfinancierocr.com that in Costa Rica, “… The regulation of prices for mobile services limits the market, affects users and is five years behind.”

Bello added “… ‘In America, all over the Americas, only Costa Rica and El Salvador still have fixed prices. It is an exceptional, extremely exceptional thing to fix prices in the global context of how the mobile market works. “

As for prices, Bello said that “… the existence of tariff rigidity, and the existence of regulatory risk, affects investment because as an investor you do not know what is going to be decided by the authority tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.”

Source: elfinancierocr.com