Archive for April, 2008
Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008
The Costa Rican government plans to reduce the taxes paid by energy-efficient and low-emission cars. This tax break will cover hybrids, electrics, and those that are powered by biofuels such as ethanol. Automobiles in Costa Rica currently pay between 35% to 53% worth of consumption tax. The tax rate varies based on the car type, engine size and model.
The draft of the executive decree is now being reviewed by the Ministry of Energy and the Environment (MINAE), Costa Rica’s EPA, and will then be reviewed by the Ministerio de Hacienda – similar to the IRS. Julio Matamoros, the MINAE vice minister informed La Nación that the tax reduction will apply to new and used cars and some models may become totally tax free.
The projected change in taxation follows the lead of the May 2006 law that eliminated taxes for cars powered by electricity, hydrogen or compressed air. At that time, there was also a 15-30% tax reduction for hybrid cars with engines under 2000 cubic centimeters. The RITEVE test that all cars need to pass annually has also been key in helping to get cars that produce high levels of pollutants off the roads.
Currently the only car hybrid car being sold in Costa Rica is the Toyota Prius. About 150 Prius hybrids are on the road today and 3 or 4 are purchased each month. This car is sold by the Purdy Motors car dealership. The new law will hopefully make it more appealing for car dealerships to import energy-efficient and low-emission vehicles to Costa Rica. There is a growing market demand as more and more Ticos and residents look at ways of protecting the environment and save money. The added bonus of not having to pay an excessive premium to purchase one of these cars will certainly make the technology accessible to more car buyers in the near future.
With fossil fuel prices on the rise and no end in sight, alternative fuel transportation is quickly becoming important not only to the trendsetters and environmentally conscious but to everyone who is looking to economize.
Costa Rica Fuel Facts
Privately-owned passenger cars use up almost half the fuel used by road-based vehicles although they only transport 31% of Costa Rica’s population. On the other hand, public transport vehicles transport 54% of the population using only 10% of the total fuel used. According to some sources, passenger cars transport an average of 1.4 people. During the last 13 years the number of public transportation, the numbers of users has declined. One of the reasons for this is that bus routes have not adapted or grown enough to meet the needs of the population. Coupled with these trends is the breakdown of the road system which translates into wasted fuel as cars idle in traffic jams.
Costa Rica relies heavily (70%) on fossil fuels although the country is becoming much more efficient. For example in 1991 it took 1.3 barrels of crude oil to produce $1000 worth of goods and now only 0.8 barrels are needed to produce the same amount. Although this is a positive step, the country’s energy needs continue to increase by about 6% each year. ICE’s failure to meet Costa Rica’s growing energy needs has caused a significant economic impact for private citizens and enterprise as the cost of living continues to rise.
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Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008
Parkour will be performed in San Jose, Costa Rica this weekend.
The Municipality of San Jose is at it again, with another strong effort to bring arts into the capital city of San Jose. This weekend on Saturday and Sunday a series of “urban arts” performances will take place from 10am to 7pm in the Plaza de las Garantías, on the south side of the Social Security building. Performances will be held by rappers, acrobatic skaters, bikers, jugglers and more.
A special break dance competition will also be held to decide which dancers will represent Costa Rica in this year’s Central American Break Dance Competition. Dancers will be judged on their style and creativity as they twist and lurch their bodies to the beat.
Another feature of the event will be performances by “parkour” artists. Parkour originates in Europe and involves jumping, climbing and flipping over typical city obstacles such as balconies, walls, stairs and railings, in an impressive show of acrobatics and gymnastics ability.
For the more musically inclined, performances by national electronic artists and DJs will be held, as well as a freestyle rap battles between some of the city’s most popular rappers.
Also present at the festival will be a plastic art exhibit, a painting workshop and information stands representing some of the local universities.
The Festival comes just after the closing of the 9-day International Arts Festival in San Jose that brought thousands of Ticos and visitors alike to La Sabana park as well as several other venues in Alajuela, downtown San Jose and Puntarenas. The festival featured arts from China, and included acts, groups and solo artists from 20 countries including Retouramont from France, and Costa Rica’s own Mal Pais, an alternative group with revolutionary leanings.
Here is the schedule of events:
Saturday
Bicycle and skate acrobatics: 2pm-3pm
“Parkour” Urban Acrobatics: 3pm-4pm
Rap Battle of the MCs: 4pm-5pm
Break Dance Competition: 5:15pm-7pm
Sunday
Circus Acts (juggling, stilt walkers, unicycles, etc.) 2pm-3pm
Experimental Electronic Performance by Digital 80: 4:30pm-5:45pm
PRODA Fest, performances by 8 National DJs: 5pm-8pm
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Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008
Saturday and Sunday more than 50.000 people took part in the Festival Imperial held in La Guacima, Alajuela, making the festival a total success.
On hand at the festival were also officials of the Policía de Tránsito who kept an eye on drivers to and from the event.
According to the Policía de Tránsito director, Germán Martín, 250 traffic tickets were issued over the weekend, 23 of which for over the legal limit and 11 vehicles were confiscated at the hands of drunk drivers.
In addition to the drinking and driving problems, Martín added that a number of tickets were issued to drivers of vehicles that did not have the annual inspection certificate known as Riteve, driving with bad or no lights and driving without a license.
Martín said that the majority of the drunk drivers were pulled over near the Panasonic plant in San Antonio de Belén and on the Alajuela-San José section of the autopista General Cañas.
On the positive side, Martín commented that the numbers of tickets and drunk drivers were surprisingly low given the large number of vehicles that visited the autdromo La Guacima between Saturday and Sunday.
“People for once paid attention, using designated drivers, travelling by bus or taxi”, said Marín.
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Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008
In Costa Rica, the Government of President Oscar Arias Sanchez is moving quickly to stop Russian casino group Storm International BV from setting up casinos in the nation.
In an interview with the Spanish language daily Al Día, the country’s Vice-President, Laura Chinchilla, stated that Storm cannot be stopped under current regulations but that the administration would pass revise gambling legislation by July in order to stop the Russian operator.
Storm’s move to the Central American nation follows the passage of legislation under former Russian President Vladimir Putin stopping casinos operating in major urban areas such as Moscow. It courted controversy when it announced its move to Costa Rica while refusing to divulge the names of its Costa Rican partners. Rumours abound that the group is planning to move its casino operation to Escazu near the capital, San Jose, but the town’s mayor, Marco Antonio Segura Seco, stated that he had not yet received any such requests.
Chinchilla stated that the type of business proposed by the Russians is not welcome in Costa Rica and that current casinos operate only because of a vacuum in current laws. Casinos are required to be part of a hotel operation and current venues would be allowed to continue operations should any new regulations be passed to avoid the Government having to pay compensation.
She said that Costa Ricans don’t want to see their country overrun by casinos and that the revised regulations would strictly enforce the percentage of hotel floor space dedicated to casino activities along with more firm operating guidelines.
Chinchilla said that Storm wants to relocate to Costa Rica because the nation is viewed as careless when it comes to regulations. She stated that the Government would do everything in its power to avoid sending a ‘come to Costa Rica because there is no regulation’ message.
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Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008
Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama and the Dominican Republic were awarded the financial infrastructure “Project of the Year” prizes at the 4th Yearly Latin American Leadership Forum, held in Miami. The San Jose-Caldera Highway was chosen as the project with the best outlook for the future. Panama earned the “Long-Term Profit” and the “Strategic Project of the Year” awards, while the Dominican Republic earned the “Values and Jobs” one for a bio-diesel refinery. Finally, Mexico won the award corresponding to “Engineering”.
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Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008
Tourism in Costa Rica is going through a few growing pains. The tourism industry is the largest contributor to GDP and brings millions of dollars of revenue into the country each year.
The rapid growth in tourism is changing the landscape of areas such as the Pacific coast of Guanacaste, and sadly, the expectation of huge corporate profits has caused the large hotel chains and other businesses to turn a blind eye to the natural environment.
The companies bring revenue to small beachfront communities and the local governments are too ineffective and too primitive to resist the corporate giveaways.
The hotels and condominium owners, especially the big ones, are having to build their own infrastructure such as roads, just so their clients can have access to their facilities.
In the town of Playa del Coco, a half hour from Liberia airport in Guanacaste, the ‘Pacifico’ chain paved a two-mile stretch of road from the downtown to their beachfront facility. This project also has a huge residual benefit since a large subdivision of condominiums; their owners, tenants and the localworkmen use the newly paved road every day.
However, the abundant development in this area is not being controlled by the municipality and the locals, but by the developers, whose main purpose is to exploit an area and to produce profits.
We’ve seen the Caribbean islands deal with unplanned tourism, and local people have watched hopelessly as most of the profits left the islands, with their environments irreparably changed forever. The same thing is happening in Costa Rica.
Basically, you have a lot of local people living in shanty-type houses. Some are situated next to the tourism projects.
These people have lived in Costa Rica for generations, but they have now been marginalized. Tourism development squeezes the local people out, and they eventually have to pay the higher prices because of the tourists.
They are promised jobs in the tourism industry, and it’s true that many of them do benefit, but the people of the country are being taken advantage of.
As you walk the streets of “El Coco” and surroundings you see the contradictions and the shortcomings.
You see million dollar condos and hotels, some with a panoramic view of the ocean, complete with 24 hour security, elaborate gardens, fenced perimeters, swimming pools, casinos, fancy restaurants and much more.
However, in center town and along the beach, there is garbage everywhere, the storefronts are shabby and tacky, the sidewalks are poorly planned and inconsistently paved, and the shoulders of the road become a sea of mud in the rainy season. Yet the local people seem oblivious to the optics.
One thing that impressed us was the high quality of Costa Rican food: fresh food without preservatives, MSG, and artificial sweeteners like aspartame. The meat and fish are fresh each day, fruit and vegetables are locally grown and overall the food tastes much better than in Canada. Basically you can eat nutritious food for 40% less than any equivalent you could buy in Canada.
But things are changing fast in Costa Rica, and the natural environment is already under siege from the big hotel chains, which are showing little consideration for the future. Government health officials closed down hotels in Tamarindo and Playa del Coco after it was discovered that they were knowingly dumping untreated sewage directly into the ocean. The English-language newspaper, the Tico Times, ran several editorials deploring the many violations of the public health laws.
The Occidental Hotel was one of the hotels involved near Playa del Coco, and in late January the hotel was closed and over 400 guests had to be transferred to other hotels while health officials conducted their tests.
The Pacific coast of Costa Rica is an attractive area of the country and has become a popular tourist destination, but the large hotels and condos are shooting themselves in the foot if they think they can ignore health regulations and put tourists and the local people at risk.
More collaborate planning is needed between the locals and the incoming tourism businesses in order to find a favourablebalance in environmental outcomes.
Otherwise, the tourist revenue will seek out safer destinations.
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Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008
Increasing the supply of drinking water and improving sewage treatment at beaches demands a $500-million investment in the coming years. Half of the resources do not yet have an identifiable source, said the head of the Costa Rican Water and Sewage Institution Ricardo Sancho. He added that a large part of the resources now available come from the developers of tourist projects, but that there are still $250 million yet to be found.
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Monday, April 21st, 2008
The much anticipated Festival Imperial finally kicked off Saturday in front of thousands of music fans at La Guácima near Alajuela, northwest of the Costa Rican capital, San José.
I joined 50,000 people over the course of the two-day festival, one of the biggest ever held in Costa Rica, and follows the sell-out success of a concert by metal icons Iron Maiden at the Ricardo Saprissa Stadium in February.
An ensemble of musicians from several Costa Rican bands opened the festival on Saturday, singing a variety of hits from the country’s rock scene, and were well-received by the crowd. This was followed up by a performance from homegrown group Le*Pop, who told reporters that they were “very happy and excited” to be performing at the festival. Having national bands play to such a large audience was a real treat for both the musicians and the fans.
Grammy-award-winning Mexican group Café Tacvba, who came up next, was well received by the enthusiastic crowd. Café was followed by Argentineans Babasónicos, promoting their new album “Mucho.”
However, there was no doubting that the final two acts, Californian group Incubus and Chicago-based rockers Smashing Pumpkins, were the two most eagerly anticipated performances.
Incubus played first, performing some of their best-known tracks such as “Nice to Know You” and “Are you In?,” from the album “Morning View,” alongside newer tunes such as “Anna Molly” from their latest album, “Light Grenades.” A particular highlight was their classic track “Drive,” which had vast swathes of the crowd singing along.
“Thank You, Costa Rica!” screamed charismatic frontman Brandon Boyd.
Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan, dressed in a striking layered silver skirt, was similarly willing to engage with his audience during a long set, which featured the hits “Today,” “Ava Adore” and “1979.”
“It is very nice to be here for the first time,” said Corgan. “It only took us 20 f—ing years to get here.”
I’d have to say that while both bands did a great job, Incubus came out with more energy and humility, rocking the 30,000-strong crowd with their hits that are very well known in Costa Rica.
The festival continued Sunday starting with Mexican alternative band Zoé, which was a mellow start to the night’s shows. Costa Rican group PorPartes wowed the audience with displays of national pride, with the lead singer draping a flag over his shoulder.
UK singer-songwriter Seal put on a very professional show, although I found it strange that his face was never shown on the big screens, making it hard to see his expressions while singing. He did bring a lot of energy and I did like the fact that he brushed up on his Spanish in order to say “Gracias” after each song and a few greetings in Spanish. He definitely puts in a lot of effort into his performances, and the results show.
Spanish-American pop star Enrique Iglesias was very warmly received, and the decidedly high-pitched screams coming from the women proved his ongoing sex appeal. The real highlight of his performance was when he found a male fan wearing what was pretty much the same cap, shirt and pants as himself, and pulled him up on stage and gave him the microphone to sing part of a song. Talk about an experience he won’t forget.
Headline British group Duran Duran, a 1980s rock icon, closed the festival with their classic hits such as “Hungry Like The Wolf.” Sunday night was decidedly more relaxed than Saturday, which worked out well because those of us who went to both days were definitely winding down from copious amounts of beer and plenty of standing around, which made a mellow finish more enjoyable.
All in all it was a well-planned and executed event. Compared to Festival Imperial 2006, improvements were in how the stage and deck was set up; everyone got a good view of the performers this time. Also good was the transportation options, with buses going to the festival from Alajuela and San Jose every 10 minutes, and many of them waiting outside after the concert was over, which made it easy to leave the car at home.
Negatives were the beer prices — last time they were much cheaper than regular bar prices, which made sense given that the brewery puts on the show. This time a can of beer cost 800 colones, which indicates they must have made a killing on this year’s festival. They didn’t start serving beer until 4pm, which left a lot of people standing around with empty cups waiting for the beer sales to start.
All in all it was a can’t-miss historic festival that puts Costa Rica on the international map for concert venues. Along with Iron Maiden’s smashing success in Saprissa, Festival Imperial’s success ensures that top-billed rock and pop acts will be coming to Costa Rica for some time to come.
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Monday, April 21st, 2008
Chinese construction employees will work three shifts a day to build a $72 million soccer stadium as a gift to Costa Rica, according to Casa Presidencial. President Óscar Airas Sánchez was reported to have approved the preliminary plans provided by a group of Chinese engineers. The stadium will seat 35,000 and will be on the site of the existing stadium in Parque la Sabana. Work could start in July.
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Friday, April 18th, 2008
Matapalo Demm Marina Development was awarded the bid to rebuild Flamingo Marina in Papagayo Gulf, in the Costa Rican northwestern Pacific. The company made a commitment to invest $91 million in the first part of the project. Flamingo Marina had stopped operating on June 11, 2004, when the courts found that it did not meet regulations and that it was polluting. The new marina is expected to be fully operational in two years.
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Friday, April 18th, 2008
The Government ruled that casinos will operate only eight hours a day from now on and that players not be served free drinks. These are part of the restrictions to the 48 casinos operating in Costa Rica. Vice President Laura Chinchilla had no qualms in asserting that this is an activity which the state does not want to encourage, but rather restrict. The measures are aimed in part at fighting the addition to gambling, Ms Chinchilla added. The Minister of Tourism Carlos Benavides explained that, according to the new approach regarding casinos, they are considered as a supplemental activity for hotels and not business in themselves.
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Friday, April 18th, 2008
Today, Friday, April 18, Costa Rican residents and visitors will see bus prices rise once again. Each one of the 3,642 different fares on Costa Rica’s 732 bus routes will go up between ¢5 and ¢250, mostly depending on the length of trip.
For many long-term residents, these increases are no surprise. La Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (Aresep, or the Public Services Regulating Authority) periodically approves rate hikes to cover increased operational and administrative costs. The main reason for tomorrow’s rate increase is due to higher oil prices.
San José’s Periférica (peripheral route) will go up ¢10, many nearby San José suburbs (Sabana, San Pedro, Pavas, Desamparados, etc.) will increase ¢5-¢10, and the San José-Alajuela routes will climb ¢15. Long-haul buses will increase by larger amounts, like San José-Liberia’s ¢120 increase to ¢2,575 and the ¢100 change in the San José-Limón route.
In addition to rate changes, el Ministerio de Obras Públicas y Transportes (MOPT, or the Ministry of Public Works and Transport) has unveiled major changes to the city’s public transportation. To begin, MOPT plans to have the 100 yellow school buses, which run between city sectors like the Periférica, increase to 1 every 10 minutes during hora pico (rush hour) and 1 every 20 minutes during regular hours. The inter-city buses should be able to complete their routes in 1 hour, provided that they can travel between 15 and 25 kilometers per hour.
In addition, Viviana Martín, Viceminister of Transportation, says that MOPT plans to improve city roads, such as the location of road “islands” and the eventual widening of streets on several well-traveled routes. During the second semester of 2008, MOPT also hopes to begin employing the use of electronic bus payments, which is the first phase of of a greater modernization plan.
One of MOPT’s main objectives is to actually reduce the number of public buses in San José. As any rush hour traveler can attest to, traffic in the city’s downtown has reached epic levels, and travel from one end to the other (Escazú-Curridabat, for example) can take well over 1.5 hours. To combat this problem, MOPT plans to add more inter-city/inter-suburb routes and in so doing, remove about 900 buses from the city’s streets.
Under these new plans, instead of having to travel from one suburb to San José, and then San José to the next suburb, you’ll be able to hop on a direct suburb-suburb route. For the 65% of Costa Rican residents that use public transportation, these new routes will save time and expense, with costs between ¢270 (Guadalupe-La Uruca) and ¢475 (Santa Ana-San Antonio-La Valencia).
There are 7 planned routes: Desmparados-Moravia (passing through Curridabat and San Pedro), Hatillo-Guadalupe (passing through San Pedro and Desamparados), La Uruca-Escazú (passing through Rohrmoser), Guadalupe-La Uruca, Moravia-La Valencia (passing through Tibás), Santa Ana-San Antonio-La Valencia (passing through Cariari and Heredia), and Hatillo-Alajuelita-Escazú (passing through San Sebastián).
Though prices are going up, MOPT plans to improve city bus service and reduce city traffic, which will be welcomed by both frequent users of San José’s buses, and the drivers who share the streets with them.
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Friday, April 18th, 2008
Maravedis interview with WiMAX Operator RCSA in Costa Rica
Radiografica Costarricense S.A (RACSA), a subsidiary of state-owned Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) in Costa Rica, owns a nationwide license in the 3.5GHz frequency band with 100MHz of spectrum. On August 2007, RACSA awarded a contract to Alvarion for the supply of 4MotionTM solution product range to provide extended wireless access services in several major cities in Costa Rica. As of April 2008 they have installed 14 WiMAX base stations in the Greater Metropolitan Areas of Costa Rica, covering the cities of San Jose, Alajuela, Cartago and Heredia, with an initial investment of US$3 million. Commercial service plans are available for 512Kbps (29 dlls) and 2Mbps (144 dlls). The service is offered under the name of Evoluciona. The network will be capable of carrying 20,000 broadband connections. The company expects to reach 75,000 WiMAX Subscribers by 2011. Click to read the interview…
Maravedis: What is your current WiMAX network status and development?
At this moment we are still in the implementation stage. We are currently installing 14 base stations; we expect to finalize setting up all the infrastructure in one month and a half. We initially bought 1,000 CPEs from Alvarion, because we thought the process of selling the service was going to be slow, however in the first week we sold all the CPEs. There was very good market acceptance of the technology, so we placed a new order and we are expecting to receive 4,000 additional CPEs in a couple of weeks. We have a customer waiting list of approximately 3,500 for the service.
We are quite happy since we haven’t invested in marketing campaigns or advertising. The service is selling itself, just from mouth to mouth communication. We started offering the service in urban areas, even where we have competing technologies such as ADSL and Cable. The service has been very well accepted.
After this stage is completed, we will decide on whether we will expand our network nationwide, addressing also the underserved and rural areas of Costa Rica, or if we will offer the service in the same coverage area that we have now, but with more base stations that support portability and mobility. We are looking at how the technology will evolve to support mobile services in the 3.5GHz band.
At this moment the focus is on fixed services to offer a good Quality of Service (QoS) and also have a larger number of cells. In the next step we will introduce portability; base stations will be installed every 3 – 4Km, and in the last stage (which is mobility) our base stations would be installed every 1 – 1.5km. Our spectrum in the 3.5GHz has a limitation in terms of the distance that can be reached, that’s why we will need a large number of base stations to guarantee the user speeds of 4Mbps, 6Mbps and 8Mbps in the future.
Maravedis: What growth do you anticipate by the end of the year 2008 in terms of the number of subscribers?
Our current network has a capacity to serve 20,000 users. We expect that by the end of the year we could reach some 8,000 subscribers, or probably more. The main limitation for us is the time required for installation. At RACSA, we have 10 installation teams, each team can install two or three CPEs per day; we will definitely need a larger staff and number of technicians to satisfy a bigger demand.
Maravedis: Talking about the CPEs, every operator is adopting a different strategy to deal with the high cost of the CPE. What is the current cost of the CPE and how much do you anticipate this cost could decrease? What strategy are you following to offer the CPE to your clients?
Currently the cost of the CPE is around US$500. We expected the cost of the CPE would decrease faster, but the decrease has been slow. We expect the cost of the CPE by the end of this year could reach the US$300 – US$350, but the hope of the CPE at US$100 is something that will not occur in the short term. The final user has the option of buying the CPE or paying a monthly fee for the use of the CPE. We are charging US$6 a month.
Maravedis: And in which cities or areas are you commercial with WiMAX?
In the Greater Metropolitan Areas of Costa Rica, which consists of 4 provinces: San Jose, Cártago, Alajuela and Heredia.
Maravedis: Could you please describe the service plans that RACSA is offering?
Yes, we are offering 3 services plans:
Evoluciona Basic: Speeds of 256kbps/512Kbps at US$29.
Evoluciona Plus: Speeds of 1Mbps/512Kbps at US$74
Evoluciona Premium: Speeds of 2Mbps/1Mbps at US$244
These prices do not include the rental of the equipment, which is around US$ 6-7 per month, plus installation fee of US$100.
Maravedis: Are you planning to partner with other equipment vendors when you offer mobility?
Yes, actually the contracts to equipment vendors are awarded by a beauty contest process. In our first stage we awarded the contract to Alvarion, and we recently extended this contract for additional US$1 million to buy new CPEs. Our law allows us to partially extend the contracts with our equipment vendors for up to $US1 million. If we want to sign bigger contracts we need to incur in another beauty contest. We are currently having talks with Alvarion, Aperto, Motorola and other equipment vendors for the next contract to offer mobility.
RACSA chose Alvarion solution with TDD (Time Division Duplexing) with the capacity to manage fixed and mobile systems. Through a software upgrade RACSA will be able to migrate the fixed subscribers to mobile. We expect to use this software upgrade during 2009; we are just waiting for the mobile equipment to be available.
Maravedis: I was reading the notes of an interview you previously had with Telesemana where you commented you expected to reach some 75,000 WiMAX subscribers in 4 years. What will be your strategy to reach this target and to accelerate the subscriber growth?
The strategy is to use a “Fideicomiso”. Under the Fideicomiso we will start an agreement with an International Bank. We will provide them with the network specifications and they will finance the project, they will buy the infrastructure and they will install the network. RACSA will just act as an administrator. The Bank will also select the equipment vendors.
Maravedis: Are you addressing the residential segment, the business segment or both?
Initially, our idea was to offer the service to the SME and SOHO; however we have experienced a great demand from the residential segment. We still offer the service to both business and residential users; however the split right now is around 95% residential.
Maravedis: Besides Internet access, which other applications are you offering or planning to offer in the future?
We are currently offering VPN services to SME. We are about to start some trials with voice and we will be eventually offering VoIP….
The complete version of the interview is available to WiMAXCounts™ subscribers only. The details include spectrum info, WiMAX subscriber numbers, subscriber split (residential & enterprise), ARPU, total base stations deployed along with breakdown by vendor and standard type, total CPEs deployed along with breakdown by vendor and standard type, competitive advantage, plus additional information.
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Thursday, April 17th, 2008
This weekend’s Festival Imperial, which will take place at La Guácima’s racetrack in Alajuela, is expected to welcome a total of 50,000 people – 25,000 on Saturday and another 25,000 on Sunday. The much-awaited international music festival is just two days away, and plans are in full-swing. And if you have your tickets and are anxiously awaiting this weekend, the following informational tidbits should help you get organized:
The parking lot and waiting area will open at 10am each morning in order to provide all the eager music fans, music, entertainment, food and refreshments while they wait. The main gates won’t open until 2pm when the fans will be allowed to anticipate the BIG show for three more hours before the concert begins around 5pm. The concerts will last until midnight while concessions will be open until 2am.
If you plan on arriving in a buseta, or designated transport van, make sure your driver has solicited a temporary permit from the Consejo de Transporte Público. (Only authorized busetas will be allowed near the festival). If you haven’t booked a ride on an authorized buseta, there will be regular bus service from San José to La Guácima every 15 minutes, beginning at 6 a.m. The bus costs just ¢500, and you can catch it on the western side of La Merced Park downtown. If Alajuela is a bit closer to you, catch the Alajuela-La Guácima buses that run every 15 minutes. They will pick you up just 50 meters south of the TUASA bus stations, and the cost is ¢165.
Food and drink will be available at Festival Imperial, and beer will be served to those over 18 beginning at 4 p.m. The festival organizers would like to remind everyone that camping will not be allowed on-site, so please do not try to arrive Friday night to catch a good seat for Saturday. There will be 680 people from la Fuerza Pública (police), Red Cross, and private agencies on-site to provide security during the concerts. 500 private security officers will be located inside the racetrack, 30 police on horseback, 50-60 traffic police, and at least 90 individuals from the Red Cross to address emergencies. There will be no tolerance for drunk driving, and Festival Imperial encourages all groups to take the bus or have a designated driver.
The final lineup for this year’s Imperial Festival is the following:
Saturday April 19
Smashing Pumpkins
Incubus
CAFÉ TACVBA (a.k.a. Café Tacuba, a Grammy and Latin Grammy award-winning Mexican Alternative Rock Group)
Babasónicos (an Argentine Rock/Alternative band)
Le*Pop (a Costa Rican band that has a light, but serious sound)
Sunday April 20
Duran Duran
Enrique Iglesias
Seal
Zoé (a Mexican Alternative Rock band)
Porpartes (currently one of the most popular bands in Costa Rica)
Some tickets are still available for the 2008 Festival Imperial, so if you haven’t purchased yet, do so soon. With the big event just a few days away, spots are sure to fill up fast. And for music fans, both in Spanish and in English, the only thing better than the star-studded 2006 Festival Imperial will be this year’s wild and crazy music bash. Trust me, Ticos will be talking about it until the next one rolls around, assumably in 2010.
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Wednesday, April 16th, 2008
Intel Corp. announced record first-quarter revenue of $9.7 billion, operating income of $2.1 billion, net income of $1.4 billion and earnings per share of 25 cents Tuesday.
“Our first quarter results demonstrate a strengthening core business and a solid global market environment,” said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO. “We saw healthy demand for our leading-edge processors and chipsets across all segments. Looking forward, we remain optimistic about our growth opportunities as we continue to reap the benefits of our 45nm technology leadership.”
Intel, the world’s largest chip maker, is also a leading manufacturer of computer, networking and communications products. The company has facilities in Belén west of San José Costa Rica.
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