Industry analysts are forecasting more than $8 billion in revenues from the combined telecommunications sectors in Costa Rica from 2014 to 2019, and mobile communications are expected to be the main driver of this economic growth. With a rising middle class and a booming mobile market in Costa Rica, business owners should be paying attention to these trends.

The forecast above was mentioned by business intelligence firm BNAmericas:

Costa Rica’s telecoms market is set to hit over US$8bn in revenues between 2014 and 2019, as users increasingly migrate to bundled services and operators increase their investment in exclusive content as a means of differentiating themselves from competitors.

According to market research firm iLifebelt, Costa Rica had about 2 million Internet users in 2012, which represents 44 percent of the population. Preliminary reports from 2013 indicate that Internet use in Costa Rica has probably surpassed 50 percent, and many of those users access online services from mobile devices. In many rural and remote areas, 3G wireless broadband is the only means of Internet access.

In 2014, Costa Rica will observe the sixth year anniversary of ICE’s concession of its wireless communications monopoly. The mobile space has grown considerably in just about all aspects since then. As many had feared, breaking up the monopoly lead to more saturation and caused wireless voice and data rates to increase.

Business owners in Costa Rica have been slow to establish a mobile presence by means of apps or websites that feature responsive design and adaptive development. Costa Rica has various mobile development firms that have designed impressive apps for foreign markets, but not so much for domestic businesses. This, however, may change in 2014 as Kolbi and Movistar start to offer 4G service in select areas of greater affluence, including Guanacaste; which presents a great opportunity for businesses to enter the mobile space.