ICE Purchases 300.000 New GSM Lines
Still waiting for a GSM cellular line? According to the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), the wait could be over soon, as the institution announced the purchase of some 300.000 lines to fill the demand, if only temporarily.

Orlando Cascante, director of ICE's mobile services, confirmed yesterday that the institution has reached a real with the Ericsson company to expand the existing GSM cellular network for the amount of us$65 million dollars, adding 300.000 lines to the existing network of 1.5 million cellular lines.

However, the deal must be approved by the Contraloría General de la República (Comptroller's office) and if does approve the contract, the lines would be available to customers in as little as six months, just in time for the December shopping season, Cascante said.

ICE has three cellular networks operating: the original network with 500.000 lines, operating on the older technology known as TDMA; the first GSM network installed by the French telecommunications firm Alcatel, with 400.000 lines; and the latest GSM network that went online in December of 2005, installed by the Ericsson company with 600.000 lines, which ICE paid us$130 million dollars.

The Ericsson contract was to have met the needs of the Institution, however, all 600.000 lines were bought up within one year, leaving the Insitution GSM dry since last December.

ICE had debated the possibility of also expanding the Alcatel network, which by current legislation would enable to institution to purchase up to one half of the initial installation without having to go through the bidding process.

Continued problems and complaints by customers of the Alcatel network and the fact that Alcatel officials have been charged and ICE officials. including a former president of Costa Rica, are being investigated for corruption and pay offs surrounding the multi million dollar purchase, led ICE not to pursue that option, opting to for the expansion of the Ericsson contract only.

The purchase, if approved, according to Cascante, is only a stop gap to meet the current demand as the Institution continues with the process of preparing a bid for 1.5 million new lines that may be of the newer GSM technology called 3G. That process could take more than a year to finalize and then time for the installation of the network before it can be offered to customers.

In addition, Cascante added that next week ICE will be offering internet over its cellular network. ICE finally obtained a rate approval from the regulating authority to charge customers ¢3.500 colones per month for a GPRS connection that is only available to GSM subscribers and not to TDMA users, as that network does not have the technological capabilities.

ICE has capacity for only 80.000 internet customers. Some 30.000 customers used the GPRS connection free of charge during a trial stage that lasted some 2 years.