Kölbi in Costa Rica

Most figures here are SUTEL’s, from its statistics for 2025 and its network tests; the rest come from Kölbi’s own pages and the press, each with its date.

Kölbi’s share of the market

Costa Rica counted 7.12 million mobile subscriptions at the end of 2025, and SUTEL attributes 38.1% of them to Kölbi, close behind Liberty’s 40.2%. In 2021 Kölbi’s share had been 42.4%. Number porting points the same way: in 2025 Kölbi lost 59,993 more numbers to other operators than it won from them. SUTEL links the rise in departures from ICE to the 5G that other operators were offering.

How Kölbi’s 4G measures up

ICE began selling 4G LTE under Kölbi on 25 November 2013, on the 2.6 GHz band, after the administrative court rejected an injunction against its use of that band. At that date the service reached 110 districts from 170 radio bases. In SUTEL’s 2025 road tests Kölbi’s 4G averaged 36.1 Mbps down across the country, with 46.0 Mbps in Guanacaste, 43.4 Mbps in Limón, 40.1 Mbps in Puntarenas and 32.8 Mbps in San José. Its 3G averaged 4.5 Mbps.

Can you rely on the coverage map?

Kölbi publishes an interactive map of its mobile coverage, which you can zoom to the area you are going to. When SUTEL set the 4G coverage Kölbi publishes against its own measurements of 2025, the two agreed in 71.8% of cases, short of the 90% the rules require, and the figure fell below that threshold in several regions. Kölbi’s 3G map agreed with the measurements in 96.0% of cases.

Where is Kölbi’s 5G?

ICE was not allowed to bid in the 5G auction of January 2025, because its spectrum holdings were above the caps. On 22 August 2025 Kölbi opened a free six-month 5G pilot on a stand-alone network, for customers on its k plus postpaid plans with a dual-SIM 5G phone, in zones of all seven provinces. In April 2026 ICE awarded its 5G network to Ericsson, with an Open RAN stand-alone design and a target of mass 5G services within 12 months. When SUTEL first measured 5G, from January to June 2026, it tested Claro and Liberty only, and noted that ICE was not yet selling 5G.

eSIM and prepaid lines

Kölbi began the first stage of its eSIM sales on 18 January 2023. Its eSIM page says the eSIM works on compatible phones, for prepaid and postpaid services, and is issued in Kölbi stores and ICE agencies. It costs nothing extra with a new mobile line or a ported number, and ₡2,255 with tax for other changes. To open a prepaid line Kölbi asks for an identity document: its list for foreigners names residence, refugee and diplomatic cards, and the passport appears only in its list for nationals. SUTEL’s prepaid register, for its part, accepts a DIMEX or a passport from foreigners.

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