cr
La Compania Nacional de Fuerza y Luz, S.com

Elster Electricity, LLC, a subsidiary within E. Elster Electricity (formerly ABB Electricity Metering)
is located in Raleigh, North Carolina and is a leading provider of
electricity metering products and services throughout the world. A third company, SpeedNet Communications,
now has the task of breaking BTL's monopoly. Mobile telephony received a further boost in June 2004 with the
entry of America Movil into the Honduran market when it acquired 100% of
Megatel.03%, and applied for
authorization to merge Enitel Movil with Sercom Nicaragua .

searchable rica

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Cost-Effective Metering Automation Solution Offers Tamper
Detection and Time -of-Use Data for Residential Areas Throughout San
Jose

Elster Electricity, LLC announces that La Compania Nacional de
Fuerza y Luz S. Internet usage is mostly
concentrated in San Salvador and a few other cities. Dial-up access is offered
free of charge by several providers, and public Internet access centres have
opened in various cities and large towns.

Guatemala: While telecom infrastructure in Guatemala is fairly modern in
the main urban centres, rural telephony remains inadequate and antiquated,
though a lot better that prior to the 1996 liberalisation of the telecom
market. In September 2003, it launched the 'Telephony For
All' program, which allows new operators to provide local telephone services
by becoming partners of Hondutel, the state-owned fixed-line incumbent. BellSouth Panama (acquired by Telefonica in October 2004) and C+WP
have exclusive rights over the mobile market until 2007.

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)
www. The electrical
system grid from CNFL covers more than 98% of its service area, making
CNFL the largest distributor of electricity in Central America.

Research and Markets: Unique Insight to Central America's Telecom Market

com/reports /c17927 ) has announced the addition
of 2005 Latin America Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband in Central America to
their offering. The government pledged to
increase telecom competition prior to the market's full liberalisation
scheduled for December 2005. As a result, the mobile industry in Nicaragua may soon be
served by only two nationwide operators: Telefonica Moviles and America Movil.

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About Compania Nacional de Fuerza y Luz, S.

website descriptions

(CNFL, S.A.

About Elster Electricity, LLC www. Yet Costa Rica is the least
liberalised telecom market in Latin America. Since the sector was privatised and opened to competition in
1998, foreign operators and local companies have invested millions in
infrastructure improvements.

costa portuguese

As a result, fixed-line teledensity is still
only just over 11%, while mobile telephony overtook fixed lines in service in
2002, reaching over 23% penetration by early 2005.

mundo portuguese

"Its two-way communications and remote service
connect/disconnect feature will help CNFL to reduce non-technical
losses and respond rapidly to power outages. DUBLIN, Ireland, Research and Markets
(http: //www. Each country has its own chapter and
covers the following subjects.

mundo spanish

A.
CNFL has the important responsibility of providing electricity to 40%
of the clients of the Costa Rican electrical system grid who consume
46% of the total electricity consumed in Costa Rica.
(Logo: http://www .

mundo net

ON's Ruhrgas
Industries, offers integrated, cost-effective solutions including
advanced electricity meters, communication solutions and metering
automation systems for residential, commercial, and industrial
applications. International
Telecommunications (Intelco) became BTL's first competitor in October 2003,
but was bankrupt by November 2004.

Panama: The country opened its telecom industry to full competition in
January 2003, ending the monopoly enjoyed by Cable + Wireless Panama (C+WP). Panama's telecom infrastructure is modern and reliable, and is
serviced by five global submarine fibre optic cables that cross from ocean to
ocean through the Panama Canal, creating new opportunities for telecom,
Internet and e-commerce ventures.

portal net

This technology enables individual meters to act as repeaters,
creating a dynamic communications path that optimizes signal strength
and reliability .
Growth in the Internet market is hampered by widespread poverty, a
linguistically and ethnically divided population, a small private sector, and
inadequate education. In January 2004, the government sold its remaining 49% interest in
Enitel to America Movil, thus completing the privatisation of the telecom
sector.researchandmarkets.

portal costa

go., is a public government
company incorporated legally as a private corporation.

rica directories

cnfl.com
Fax: +353 1 4100 980

central website

Business Editors/Energy Editors

RALEIGH, N. The system is ideal for
countries such as Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua , Belize, Honduras, and
Panama that use the same type of meter used by CNFL. Through the state-owned Instituto
Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), the government holds a monopoly over the
country 's telecom and energy markets.

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CNFL distributes electricity in the most densely populated
area of the country--the central region of the Great Metropolitan
Area.A. However, the country experienced a couple of
serious set backs due to natural disasters: Hurricane Mitch in 1998 and the
devastating earthquakes of 2001.

Honduras: The country has 4th lowest fixed-line penetration in Latin
America, after Haiti, Nicaragua and Paraguay. Millicom's subsidiary Celtel was the only
mobile operator until November 2003, when a second provider, Megatel, launched
GSM services.

For more information visit
http://www.

centramerica net

La Compania Nacional de Fuerza y Luz -CNFL- of Costa Rica Installs Elster Electricity's EnergyAxis System with Two-Way Communications

"
The EnergyAxis System's 900 MHz two-way radio frequency
communications network uses intelligent, two-way spread spectrum
frequency -hopping technology with self-registration to provide secure,
reliable communications between network meters and data collectors.

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Costa Rica: Served by a relatively modern and sophisticated
telecommunications infrastructure, Costa Rica has the second highest Internet
penetration rate in Latin America after Chile.

El Salvador: The country's telecom market is among the most liberalised in
Central America. While
fixed-line services are yet to be liberalised, value-added services and mobile
telephony are open to competition.

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CNFL's initial deployment includes system meters installed
in single-family residences throughout San Jose, Costa Rica in Central
America. It has a
service area of 903 Km2 which represents 2% of the national territory.newscom.

Key Statistics
Market Overview
Regulatory Environment
Fixed Network Operators
Telecom Infrastructure
Data Market
Internet
Broadband
E-services
Mobile Market Overview
Mobile Operators
Broadcasting

Belize: The second smallest and most sparsely populated country in Central
America, Belize was among the first Latin American countries to privatise its
national telecom company in 1988, but gave the incumbent, Belize
Telecommunications Ltd (BTL) , a 15-year monopoly concession until end-2002 for
all fixed-line and mobile phone services. Mobile phones overtook fixed lines in
2001, and are now more than double the number of fixed lines in service .

portal net

com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040820/RESEARCH )
This report provides information on Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador,
Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama.

mundo rica

CNFL selected the EnergyAxis System to improve tamper detection
capabilities, to reduce the number of meter site visits for
disconnecting and reconnecting service, and to offer customers
flexible energy rate structures. The Instituto
Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) is its major shareholder holding
98.

researchandmarkets. However , the
government announced that it would award two new mobile concessions at end-
2005, even though the licence winners will not be able to launch services
until 2008.

website portuguese

A. Included in the above report are four exhibits
and one hundred and thirteen tables. With a high percentage of the population living in rural areas, the
country's fixed-line teledensity is at the low end of the scale for Latin
America . Though also not high by Latin American standards, mobile telephony
has been a fast growing market , helped along by one of the most liberal radio
spectrum regulatory models in the world.

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Nicaragua: Although Nicaragua has the second lowest fixed-line teledensity
in Latin America, 2004 brought big and promising changes to the telecom
market. In August 2004,
America Movil increased its interest in Enitel to 99.
Since then, the government has awarded numerous new concessions for fixed-line
telephony.

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C. The EnergyAxis System is an
advanced metering automation system utilizing a 900 Mhz network with
Elster's single phase electronic REX(R) meters and A3 ALPHA(R) meter
collectors . Elster's EnergyAxis Metering
Automation Server (MAS) will allow CNFL to remotely configure
time -of-use rates, initiate load profile data collection at the meter
and retrieve information on outage counts, on-site voltage levels,
tamper indications, and meter status and warning messages.6% shares , with the remaining shares held by private national
shareholders. CNFL distributes electricity in the most densely
populated area of Costa Rica--the central region or Great Metropolitan
Area, where most of the population resides and where commercial and
institutional activities of the country are concentrated.elsterelectricity.
Designed to meet the diverse electricity metering requirements of a
global customer base, Elster's products include advanced high accuracy
ANSI and IEC electricity meters, the EnergyAxis System with
intelligent two-way communications featuring the electronic REX (R)
meter, and the ALPHA(R) meter line. Yet, despite theoretical
liberalisation, BTL still holds a de facto monopoly.

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(CNFL) has installed Elster's EnergyAxis(R) System
with intelligent two-way communications.

honduras guides

"The EnergyAxis System is the first system of its kind in Central
America to offer advanced metering technology," remarked Fabio
Dominguez, international sales and marketing manager for Elster
Electricity. It began to build a CDMA2000 1X
network in September 2004, and plans to offer Internet access, wireless
broadband and various corporate services as well as mobile telephony . However, January 2004 marked a
significant step for Costa Rica with the signing of the Central American Free
Trade Agreement (CAFTA), which calls for a gradual liberalization of the
telecom sector.

In April 2004, the regulator announced that Nicaragua's fixed-line
market would be opened to full competition in December 2004. In October 2004,
BellSouth completed the sale of its Nicaraguan unit TCN BellSouth to
Telefonica Moviles.com/reports/c17927

Laura Wood
Senior Manager
Research and Markets
press@researchandmarkets.