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New GSM
Customers To Get Their First
Bill, Finally!
For the two hundred thousand
plus who purchased the new GSM
cellular service in December,
the first billing is just coming
out and due on March 4. This
because the Instituto
Costarricense de Electricidad
(ICE) sold the cellular lines
without having the billing
infrastructure in place.
During the last almost three
months, users of the new GSM
cellular service received no
bill. Many assumed the service
would be free, since there is no
bill to pay, they talked and
talked.
Even though ICE wants to now
cover the amount in one bill,
the Autoridad Reguladora de los
Servicios Públicos (Aresep) -
the government regulator of
public prices and services -
said no, ICE must allow
customers time to pay up. That
is to say, ICE will bill first
for December, then in 15 days
bill for January and 15 days
later bill for February.
Customers who cannot pay their
bills on time will have to make
some payment arrangement with
ICE or see their service cut.
One of the features of the new
GSM network was the migration of
the TDMA service (those numbers
starting with 3) to the new
network without requiring a
change of number as is not the
case. That feature was to have
been in place for March,
however, it seems remote at this
time. ICE says maybe in May.
The multimedia (sending and
receiving photos and music)
features and internet service
are still awaiting Aresep
approval. ICE says it is ready
to launch the new services as
soon as the rates are approved.
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