Costa Rica’s Ombudsman’s Office (Defensoria de los Habitantes) conducted a technical study on the country’s mobile phone and internet market and in a public address today expressed serious concerns over a plan to open the market, saying the market has not evolved into a competitive market.

The Telecommunications Superintendency (Sutel) in an August 31, 2016 report determined that the Costa Rican mobile telephone and internet market was not competitive and had conditions of joint dominance, therefore had decided not to lift existing regulations.

Sutel recently submitted for public consultation a proposal to lift regulations on mobile fees, which was met with sharp rebuke by the Ombuds’ office.

“If the board of SUTEL were to order tariff deregulation of the mobile telecommunications retail service market … it would be issuing a seriously flawed administrative act … so seriously flawed that it would be subject to absolute nullity under the terms of the General Law of Public Administration,” said Montserrat Solano Carboni, national ombud, in her public statement this morning.

Since 2014 the ombud’s office has been advocating in favor of citizen rights in the arena of telecommunications and internet usage.

“The Ombudsman’s Office has been defending the rights and interests of users of mobile telephony and internet which is recognized as a right that allows the exercise of many other human rights. Access to the Internet is not a luxury, it is a necessity for all, which allows children to study, mothers and fathers take care of their sons and daughters, access to State services, monitor public institutions, in short, to exercise citizenship in an increasingly interconnected world,” explained Solano Carboni.

In Costa Rica, there are currently five mobile telecommunication retail operators: three of them account for 99 percent of the market, and two virtual operators control a mere 1 percent of the market, making the current structure an oligopoly, said the Ombud. Therefore, said the human rights defender, egulation is required to avoid possible monopolistic practices to the detriment of the rights and interests of the users.

“This new Sutel proposal was received with surprise, because just last November, Sutel itself had stated that conditions were not yet present to declare these markets as competitive. Even more surprising was that the data analyzed by Sutel did not vary substantially from the information analyzed less than a year ago. In other words, the conditions have not changed, but the position of Sutel has. It is important to note that what is at stake here is the access of Costa Ricans to a human right: Access to the internet which is viable only when conditions of a fair tariff scheme exist. Declaring effective competition would imply tariff deregulation without there necessarily being the competitive competition that could benefit users. Such deregulation would allow, for example, the possibility of establishing per-download internet charges,” added the Ombudsman.