Sofía Zúñiga is a Special Counsel at BLP in San Jose with over 15 years of experience in Public Law, Administrative Contracting & Economic Regulation, Telecommunications, Media & Technology, Energy & Infrastructure and Real Estate & Hospitality. She advises public and private enterprises on transactionals and administrative actions and telecommunications operators on regulatory compliance and mergers. In Energy & Infrastructure, Sofía advises on regulation and transactions. In Real Estate & Hospitality, she leads international transactions. Recognized over the years for publications and participation in committees, panels, and associations. She joined BLP in 2018.

Education
Master of Laws (Regulatory Law), Harvard Law School, United States, 2007
Law degree with honors, Universidad de Costa Rica, Costa Rica, 2003

Significant Accomplishments
Drafting of a new regulatory provision for the Telecommunications Superintendence. BLP was responsible for drafting the regulations and guidelines of the recently approved competition-related regulations (a requirement for admission to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) in all matters related to telecommunications, as well as for training the regulatory body’s staff regarding administrative procedures, confirming our technical expertise in telecommunications.
BLP advised Liberty Telecomunicaciones de Costa Rica LY, S.A. on the development of projects funded by the National Telecommunications Fund (FONATEL by its Spanish acronym) to provide access in rural non-profitable communities, which successfully reached rentability in the short term through creative market strategies. BLP has advised on day-to-day corporate and regulatory matters.
BLP advised Garnier Group on agreements for the development, maintenance and renegotiation of internal telecommunications infrastructure and services in their extensively varied projects, from industrial, free zones, to commercial and residential projects.
BLP advised Ufinet regarding infrastructure regulation, contract drafting, and overall regulatory issues before the regulatory telecommunications agency (SUTEL).
BLP advised Cogent on the process of opening operations in Costa Rica. BLP advises in all legal matters, including an analysis of regulatory requirements.
Starlink expanding operations throughout Latin America. BLP has become its legal partner responsible of all regulatory and certain corporate legal matters to make it happen, within a challenging flash pace, in the Central American region.
BLP advised Cisco WebEx. Cisco Web periodically hires BLP´s advising services to issue legal opinions on particular domestic law assessment of its business and impact per local laws and regulations.
Cirion Technologies purchased the operations of Lumen in the region. BLP advised from the renewal of its license for the landing of submarine cable, which is a complex challenging legal matter, since it was originally granted while telecommunications was a public monopoly and the regulatory framework has changed, to the renegotiation of the landing station agreement and capacity agreements, regulatory notications of the acquisition by Cirion Technologies, up to nishing a modication request to the review of methodologies for the measurement of quality indicators with the regulator.
Millicom acquire Telefónica subsidiaries in Costa Rica, Nicaragua y Panamá. BLP advised its client throughout the acquisition process, from the elaboration of the due diligence study, the regulatory analysis of the transaction to the negotiation of the acquisition documents, the competition and regulatory lings which approval was successfully obtained from local authorities. The transaction totalled US$ 1.650 million (which US$ 570 million of the proceeds going to Telefónica Costa Rica).

Professional Associations

• Ibero-American Association of Economic Regulation in Costa Rica: Founding member
• Harvard – MIT Club Costa Rica: Founding member
• International Bar Association: Member