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Nation signs pact to beef up Internet capacity
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff

The U.S. Internet cable company Global Crossings will hook up Costa Rica to its Pacific network by the end of 2007, the company said Thursday.

The firm entered into a $30 million agreement Thursday with the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad and its Internet subsidiary Radiográfica Costarricense S.A.

The new cable will provide extra capacity for Costa Rica's international Internet connections which are becoming increasingly congested.

Global Crossing has an undersea cable that runs from Panamá to Los Angeles. Under terms of the agreement, a cable link will come on shore at Pacific community of Esterillos where it will connect to the Costa Rican network.

Global Crossing said that Costa Rica will gain direct access to a network that serves more than 600 cities in 60 countries. The project requires additional governmental approval, such as from the Contraloria de la República.

As part of the cable agreement, Global Crossing said that it will donate 155.5 megabytes per second of bandwidth to the Costa Rican academic sector, the largest donation of its kind in the history of the country.

In turn, the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, known as ICE, and Radiográfica Costarricense S.A., known as RACSA, said they would buy 3.7 gigabytes per second of bandwidth.

The increased bandwidth is critical to the Internet development of the country because ICE is beginning to offer voice-over-Internet telephone calls and available space on the country's two Caribbean international cables is diminishing.

A signing ceremony to seal the deal took place Thursday in San José.

"Latin America continues to be an integral part
of our global strategy, and we're building on our successes in this region by extending our core network to Costa Rica," said John Legere, chief executive officer of Global Crossing. "This agreement provides ICE/RACSA with a robust solution for worldwide connectivity from the Pacific coast, and enables the delivery of seamless, premier IP solutions to Costa Rican based businesses and end users taking advantage of all the benefits of world-class Global Crossing network."

Global Crossing has operational facilities in 12 of the region's major cities. Through its sub-sea and land cable systems, Global Crossing connects South America, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean to the rest of its global network, delivering services to customers around the world.

Costa Rica will be connected to the PAC system, which currently reaches land in Balboa, Panamá, and Mazatlan and Tijuana, Mexico. With its regional network officially completed in 2001, Global Crossing now serves virtually all of Latin America's major carriers as well as many Latin American companies, research and educational networks, and global companies operating in the region.

Also in direct response to rapid growth of customer demand, Global Crossing recently announced it will be making upgrades to its Mid-Atlantic Crossing system, which connects North America to Latin America through the Caribbean.

The improved Internet structure is expected to bring increased direct investment to Costa Rica within a year of implementation, officials said.

"This agreement is the culmination of an ongoing, cooperative effort between ICE, RACSA and Global Crossing, and is a tremendous accomplishment for all involved," said José Antonio Ríos, Global Crossing's international president, who attended the signing ceremony. "We look forward to playing a key role in advancing Costa Rica's economic goal of becoming an ideal business partner."

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