Costa Rican operator Racsa has started offering services using WiMAX technology. Last year the state operator announced a contract with Alvarion for using its BreezeMax platfom in the 3.5 GHz band. Racsa is now offering broadband services to around 500 business and residential customers, either commercially or as part of pilots in the cities of Escazu, Santa Ana, San Jose, Cartago and Heredia. A base station serving Santa Ana and Escazu already provides commercial services since the start of the year; Racsa invested USD 90,000 in the cell site. Another USD 3 million is being invested in 12 base stations providing coverage for some 20,000 lines from Alajuela to Cartago. A pilot of mobile WiMAX services will start in downtown San Jose in June. Racsa offers the WiMAX broadband service from USD 29 per month for a 512/256 Kbps connection, rising to USD 244 for 2 Mbps. Equipment rental is USD 6 per month. The operator also plans to experiment with Wi-Fi and PLC technology.
