Costa Rican operator targets banks with mobile broadband

HONOLULU – A Costa Rican wireless operator is targeting the financial industry with WiMAX technology as a DSL alternative to carry the nation’s bank’s digital traffic as a safeguard to back up the information in case of a natural disaster.
IBW, which also has operations in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala, is using 802.16e technology to provide businesses communications, but eventually expects to target consumers as well, said Paul Ives Choiseul, CTO of the company. IBW started testing WiMAX technology in early 2009 and was satisfied it could meet government requirements to provide secure communications to the banking institutions. Choiseul said the Costa Rican government has mandated at least two independent links and points of presence into financial institutions because the country is prone to earthquakes. “Wireless makes sense,” Choiseul noted, because it might be better able to withstand a natural disaster. Indeed, Trilogy International Partners Chairman John Stanton told the CTIA audience earlier this year that he envisioned Haiti would rebuild its telecommunications infrastructure “copper free.”
While IBW initially is targeting the banking industry with the fixed WiMAX solution, the operator plans to expand to other vertical businesses as well. As it expands its business, IBW expects to offer nomadic and mobile services and is using Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.’s equipment because it offers the flexibility for the operator to change the technology, perhaps using 802.16m WiMAX or TD-LTE technology if it needs to, Choiseul said in an interview with RCR Wireless News at Huawei’s Global WiMAX Business Development Forum.
Each market is slightly different and as such, IBW is tailoring its market strategy to the specific country. IBW also has different spectrum in different markets. The operator holds 2.3 GHz spectrum in Costa Rica, 2.5 GHz spectrum in El Salvador, 700 MHz spectrum in Nicaragua and 3.5 GHz in Guatemala. “We’ve gone after what’s available,” Choiseul said.
In El Salvador and Guatemala, the operator is targeting residential users. IBW also owns a robust fiber-optic ring in San Salvador, El Salvador’s main city, and as such can offer corporate users a strong communications offering, said Alvaro Salazar Amaya. Broadband penetration is low in the country, but is generating more interest in schools and as young people start to use social networks. “There is a big gap between the demand and what we have available” in the country.