Cell Phone Service in Panama and the Beauty of Private Enterprise

cell phone service in panama
New Phone Companies Open in Panama

I’ve spent the last few weeks in Costa Rica, and while I love it here, there are little annoyances which make living here frustrating. My favorite being: the impossible task of getting a telephone line. Why? Because there is only one government run telephone company, ICE. This is NOT the case in Panama.

While recently, ICE re-sold old cell phone lines that had been purchased and never activated, this seems quite dysfunctional in comparison to Panama where getting a cell phone is as easy as walking up to a pagoda in a mall, or a shop on the street corner, and handing over 4o bucks.

And it seems as though this seemingly simple task will get even easier (in Panama)! Two more companies, Claro Panama and Digicel Panama, are to open up their doors and phones to the public within the next six months. Hopefully Costa Rica will take a hint and do the same.

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