Costa Rica's ICE Awards Ericsson $220m 5G Network Contract

Why It Matters

The contract accelerates Costa Rica’s shift to high‑speed, low‑latency connectivity, positioning the country as a regional leader in Open RAN adoption and expanding competitive telecom services.

Key Takeaways

• Ericsson wins $220 million 5G contract from Costa Rica’s ICE.
• Project uses Stand‑Alone Open RAN, enabling multi‑vendor flexibility.
• Coasin‑Nokia supplies base‑station equipment, creating a dual‑vendor ecosystem.
• Nationwide 5G rollout slated for 12 months, starting with urban hubs.
• Deployment supports low‑latency services and strengthens digital‑sovereignty.

Pulse Analysis

Latin America is racing to close the digital divide, and Costa Rica’s ICE is betting heavily on 5G to leapfrog its neighbors. The $220 million investment marks one of the largest single‑operator commitments in the region, aligning with the country’s 2022 digital‑transformation roadmap that aims to modernise critical infrastructure, attract foreign tech firms, and boost economic productivity. By bundling the rollout under its consumer brand Kölbi, ICE seeks to monetize the network quickly, targeting sectors such as fintech, tele‑medicine, and smart‑city projects that demand ultra‑reliable, low‑latency connections.

A defining feature of the project is its Stand‑Alone Open RAN architecture, which decouples hardware and software layers and permits multiple vendors to coexist. Ericsson will supply the core 5G stack, while Coasin‑Nokia delivers base‑station hardware, creating a resilient, vendor‑agnostic ecosystem. This multi‑vendor model reduces reliance on a single supplier, lowers total‑cost‑of‑ownership, and future‑proofs the network against rapid technological shifts. For Ericsson, the contract reinforces its foothold in the emerging Open RAN market, a segment the company has been championing to counterbalance traditional monolithic deployments.

Beyond technical merits, the rollout carries strategic weight for Costa Rica’s sovereignty and cybersecurity posture. By adhering to international security standards and diversifying its supply chain, ICE mitigates risks associated with single‑source dependencies. The accelerated 12‑month timeline promises near‑term commercial services, opening revenue streams from high‑value enterprise customers and positioning the nation as a testbed for advanced 5G use cases in Central America. As neighboring countries observe the outcomes, ICE’s Open RAN success could catalyse a broader regional shift toward more open, competitive telecom ecosystems.