Costa Rica’s kölbi is not just another mobile brand. It is the telecom face of ICE, the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, Costa Rica’s state-owned electricity and telecommunications group. For many locals, kölbi is the default name associated with mobile service, fixed internet and television. For travelers visiting Costa Rica, it is also often the operator people hear about when they ask the practical question: “Which SIM actually works outside San José?”

That local reputation matters. Costa Rica is not a country where coverage can be judged only by airport convenience. A connection that works well in the capital may feel very different in the South Pacific, mountain towns, rainforest lodges or remote beach areas. This is why kölbi has traditionally been seen by many visitors and residents as one of the strongest local options for domestic coverage, especially compared with some global travel eSIMs that are built for convenience rather than deep local network performance.

Now kölbi is moving into a different part of the eSIM story: outbound travel. The company has launched kölbi eSIM Global by Airalo, a co-branded global eSIM service that allows Costa Rican customers to buy international data packages before leaving the country and connect abroad without changing their physical SIM card. ICE says the service gives access to mobile data in close to 200 countries through Airalo’s international eSIM platform.

Who kölbi is

kölbi was launched by ICE after the liberalization of Costa Rica’s telecom market and became the group’s main consumer telecom brand. ICE itself has a long history in the country: it was created in 1949 and later expanded into telecommunications, with kölbi becoming the brand most associated with mobile services. Grupo ICE describes kölbi as its leading mobile brand in Costa Rica, offering telecom services alongside the group’s broader infrastructure role.

The name also carries a local identity. It comes from the Cabécar word for a small tree frog, which is why the brand feels more Costa Rican than corporate. That is useful in a market where trust still matters. A global app can offer easy installation, but a national operator brings familiarity.

For visitors coming into Costa Rica, kölbi’s local SIM and eSIM options are still a separate conversation from this new Airalo product. The local kölbi eSIM is essentially a digital version of a physical SIM for using kölbi services inside Costa Rica. kölbi’s own service page explains that its eSIM works as a virtual SIM included in compatible phones, available for prepaid or postpaid service.

The new kölbi eSIM Global by Airalo, however, is aimed at Costa Rican users traveling abroad. That distinction is important.

What the new service does

The Airalo partnership gives kölbi customers a way to browse destinations, compare packages, choose a data plan and install an eSIM on a compatible phone before traveling. kölbi is currently promoting the service with the code kolbi20, offering a 20% discount on eligible packages.

For the traveler, the pitch is simple: buy before departure, land connected, avoid the airport SIM-card hunt and keep your physical SIM in place. That last point is one of eSIM’s biggest everyday advantages. You do not need to remove your Costa Rican SIM card. You can keep your regular number active on the phone while using a separate eSIM for mobile data abroad.

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The service is being promoted strongly around travel to North America, especially the United States, Mexico and Canada during the major football season. But the offer is not limited to that region. Airalo describes itself as an eSIM marketplace with coverage in more than 200 countries and regions, offering local, regional and global eSIM plans.

In practice, this makes kölbi less of a direct roaming provider in this case and more of a trusted front door into Airalo’s platform. That is not a weakness, as long as customers understand who is responsible for what.

The fine print matters

The key detail: this is a data-only service. It is useful for maps, WhatsApp, ride-hailing apps, email, social media, hotel reservations and web browsing. It is not a replacement for traditional voice and SMS roaming through the user’s regular Costa Rican line.

kölbi’s terms make clear that Airalo is responsible for the purchase process, installation, billing, international connectivity and technical support. ICE acts as a facilitator for access to the promotion and co-branded platform, while Airalo handles the actual transaction and service.

That distinction matters more than most marketing pages admit. If installation fails, if coverage is weak in a destination, or if there is a billing question, the traveler is expected to deal with Airalo’s support channels. The real network quality will also depend on Airalo’s roaming partners in the destination country, not on kölbi’s domestic Costa Rican network.

There are also the usual eSIM checks. The phone must support eSIM, the device should be unlocked, and the chosen destination needs to have an available package. Older phones, carrier-locked devices and some budget models may not support this properly.

This is probably not the best solution for someone who needs a local phone number abroad, heavy voice/SMS use, or a corporate travel plan with centralized control. It is also not necessarily the cheapest option for every single destination. But for many leisure travelers, families and short-trip users, the appeal is convenience and cost visibility.

Why this fits the global eSIM trend

The kölbi-Airalo deal is part of a bigger shift in travel connectivity: operators are no longer treating eSIM only as a technical SIM replacement. Increasingly, eSIM is becoming a distribution layer.

Airalo, Ubigi, Holafly, Nomad, GigSky, aloSIM, Jetpac and others have trained travelers to buy data like they buy travel insurance or airport transfers: online, before departure, with clear validity and data limits. TechRadar’s 2026 eSIM testing places providers like Ubigi, Airalo, Saily, Holafly, Nomad and GigSky among the major names shaping international travel eSIM use, each with slightly different strengths around global plans, unlimited data, security, cruise coverage or value.

READ MORE: Airalo Passes 30M Customers in Global eSIM Shift

For mobile operators, this creates a dilemma. They can keep pushing traditional roaming bundles and risk losing the comparison layer to global eSIM apps, or they can partner with those platforms and stay present in the customer journey. kölbi has chosen the second route.

That is smart, especially because Costa Rican travelers already know the kölbi name. A customer who might not independently search for Airalo may still trust an offer introduced through their national operator. For Airalo, the partnership brings local credibility. For kölbi, it keeps the brand relevant when its customers leave the country.

Costa Rica has two different eSIM stories

There is an interesting contrast here. For travelers visiting Costa Rica, local connectivity still often favors strong domestic coverage, and kölbi remains a name worth considering, particularly for more rural routes. Some international eSIM providers are convenient, but they do not always match the practical depth of a local operator in difficult terrain.

For Costa Ricans traveling abroad, the situation reverses. They do not need kölbi’s local Costa Rican network in Mexico City, Miami, Madrid or Toronto. They need a practical international data plan. That is where Airalo’s global marketplace model makes sense.

So the same brand can now play two roles: local network specialist at home, and travel eSIM gateway abroad.

Final thoughts about kölbi & Airalo global eSIM

The kölbi-Airalo launch is not revolutionary on its own. Global eSIM marketplaces have existed for years, and Airalo is already one of the most recognized names in the category. What makes this move interesting is the operator wrapper around it.

kölbi is effectively admitting what many telecom brands are now learning: travelers want roaming alternatives that feel transparent, digital and controllable. They want to see the price, data allowance and validity before the trip. They want installation done before boarding. And increasingly, they do not want to visit a kiosk, swap a plastic SIM or guess what roaming will cost later.

Compared with standalone players such as Airalo, Ubigi, Nomad or Holafly, kölbi’s advantage is not product originality. It is trust and timing. The customer is already inside the kölbi ecosystem. The gap is that support, billing and actual service delivery sit with Airalo, which should be communicated very clearly to avoid confusion.

The broader trend is obvious: eSIM is no longer only a travel hack for digital nomads. It is becoming a partnership product for telecom operators, airlines, hotels, banks, loyalty programs and travel platforms. In that world, kölbi’s move looks less like a side promotion and more like a signal. Traditional operators may not own every part of the eSIM journey anymore, but the smart ones will still find a way to stay in it.