ICE Promises End To Cellular Reception Problems
If you can believe the promise, the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) - the state monopoly on telecommunications - it will better the service to its cellular network, mainly by assuming the operations of the Alcatel GSM network of 400.000 cellular lines.

ICE says that the network currently is operating in 60% of the national territory, contrary to the coverage maps on the institute's website that 95% of the country is covered. ICE promises to increase coverage to 80% by the end of 2007.

Pedro Pablo Qurios, president of ICE, said the institution will assure the operations and maintenance of the Alcatel system, breaking the six year contract with the telecom provider.

Geovanni Bonilla, ICE legal advisor, the breaking of the contract will not have legal consequences for the institution, nor will it affect service.

The basis for the breaking of the contract, according to ICE, is poor coverage and there have been numerous confirmed reports that some Ericsson phones will not work on the Alcatel network.

Ericsson installed and operates for ICE the newer GSM network of 600.000 lines.

ICE officials say that they were left with no other choice in the matter. Their objective is to improve service and the only way to do so is to take over the operation, said Bonilla.

Alcatel was notified of the ICE decision yesterday and has yet to make a statement on the matter.

Users of the Alcatel GSM network have been constantly plagued with the inability to place a call and without their knowledge, not being able to receive calls either.

Messages like "su llamada no se puede ser tramitada en esto momento" (your call cannot be completed at this time) are frequent. Placing a call to a known number sometimes obtains the message "el numero marcado no corresponde a ningun de nuestros clientes" (the number called does not correspond to any one of our subscribers) is another frequent message receive by callers.

The messages are produced when the cellular phone calling or being called is within a cell that is not functioning or has poor coverage. And the poor coverage is not limited to areas like inside buildings of remote areas.