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International Bank
To Decide On New Cellular Provider
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International Bank To
Decide On New Cellular
Provider
To avoid past mistakes
in the purchasing of
cellular telephone
lines, the Instituto
Costarricense de
Electricidad (ICE), has
announced that it will
leave the financial
decision of which
company will be granted
the contract to install
1.5 million lines of the
new cellular network to
the Banco
Centroamericano de
Integración Económica (BCIE).
Claudio Bermúdez, a
director of ICE, said
that new lines will of
the third generation
cellular service known
as 3G that use the W-CDMA
(Wideband Code Division
Multiple Access)
transmission protocol
which achieve higher
speeds and support more
users compared to the
implementation of time
division multiplexing (TDMA)
used by 2G GSM networks.
The new network would
also improve coverage
and reduce dropped
calls.
In the purchasing
process, ICE will
indicate to the BCIE the
technical requirements
and the bank will invite
tenders and make the
final decision on the
contractor.
The BCIE will also be
involved in the
financing of the
installation of the new
network. Although
details are sketchy at
this time, the plan is
for the bank to purchase
the network, have it
installed and then lease
it to ICE with a
purchase option.
Once installed, ICE will
be responsible for the
operation and
maintenance of the
network.
The move is a drastic
change from the way ICE
purchases its cellular
telephone network, where
the institution usually
invites the bids and
then chooses the
contractor and directly
pays for the
installation.
The decision is to avoid
any possibilities of
payoffs and scandals as
occurred with the
decision to award to the
French
telecommunications firm
Alcatel to install the
first GSM cellular
network in the country,
where a number of ICE
directors and Alcatel
executives, and
including former Costa
Rican president, Miguel
Angel Rodriguez, are all
accused of corruption.
In 2002, Alcatel was
awarded the contract to
install 400.000 GSM
lines. The Ericsson
company was awarded the
2005 contract to install
600.000 GSM cellular
lines, which contract is
now being expand with
the purchase of 300.000
more lines which will be
available next January.
In addition to the 1
million GSM lines, ICE
also has 500.000 lines
of the older TDMA
technology. Currently
only several thousand of
the TDMA lines are
available to new
subscribers.
According to Giovanni
Bonilla, legal director
at ICE, the new process
is permitted under the
Ley de Contratación
Administrativa.
For Alfredo Ortuño, BCIE
director in Costa Rica,
the international bank
will play an important
role in the process and
will ensure that all
technical specifications
set out by ICE will be
complied with by the
winning bidder.
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Sony
Ericsson W960i is one example of a 3G
phone that is known as a a "does
everything" phone that can take
advantage of the features offered by W-CDMA
technology. |
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