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Fixed
Line Telephone Rates Going Up
Get ready for an increase in
telephone rates. Yesterday, the
Instituto Costarricense de
Electricidad (ICE), the state
monopoly on telecommunications,
made a request to the Autoridad
Reguladora de los Servicios
Públicos (Aresep) for a hike in
telephone costs.
If and when approved, the rates
for fixed line telephone calls
will just from ¢3.6 colones to
¢5 colones per minute during
daytime and from ¢1.8 to ¢3.35
colones per minute for evening
and weekend calling.
ICE, with the new rates
approval, will also begin
charging calls in 10 second
increments. That is if your call
is only for 30 seconds, you will
be charged only for that call
time and not the current system
of "impulsos" which are based on
1 minute.
For clarity, if caller currently
makes a call for 3 minutes and
20 seconds, they will be charged
4 "impulsos" or four minutes.
With the new rates, the charge
would be only for the time use
to nearest 10 seconds. ICE says
that it has upgraded its billing
system so that it can charge in
real time.
ICE only charges for calls
placed from a telephone and all
incoming calls are not billed to
the receiving party. A person
receiving the phone call can
talk all day at no cost to them.
The calling party will be
charged.
There is no word when the Aresep
will make a decision on the
request and it does not affect
cellular telephone customers.
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