“Connected Public Spaces” is an initiative of the Ministry of Science, Telecommunications and Technolgy the National Telecommunication Fund (FONATEL) and several municipalities that are looking to provide of free internet to the inhabitants of the 72 Costa Rican counties through Wi-Fi networks placed in main parks.

The total investment of this project is of about $32 million USD, which should be executed by stages from 2017 and through 2022 to guarantee it sustainability, but the project will be completed by 2018.

The first stage will include 40 counties and it will advance to include all 72 counties. The order will depend on the population density, touristic and educational interest, where areas such as Montes de Oca, Heredia, Curridabat and Belen take priority.

Through the program a high capacity network will be installed to access internet from public areas for free and with certain characteristics, for example, limited time restriction, user id and security according to the type of service (Content Filter for instance).

“There are municipalities that are already ahead of others because they have more resources and the Fund is looking to close that digital gap in the areas that need it most. We are not saying we are not going to give support to the majority of the municipalities, but there is a priority and focus in those that have a bigger digital gap; this means its population is also in disadvantage”, said Humberto Pineda, FONATEL’s director.