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Separated Twins Back At
Home
ICE Announces Text
Messaging Beyond Costa Rica
Tamarindo Clean Up
Begins
Allegro Papagayo Hotel
To Be Shut Down Today
No Water Rationing This
Summer, Says the AyA
IN BRIEF... |
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ICE Announces Text
Messaging Beyond Costa
Rica
Subscribers to the GSM
cellular network can now
send text (SMS) messages
beyond Costa Rica's
borders as well as
receive them.
The Instituto
Costarricense de
Electricidad (ICE) -
state monopoly on
telecommunications -
yesterday announced the
six month pilot program
to test the service,
which is available in
almost every other
corner of the world.
For the time being, text
messaging will be
allowed to and from only
five countries: T-Mobile
in the United States,
Telcel in Mexico, Cable
& Wireless in Panama,
Movistar in Nicaragua
and Claro and Digivel in
El Salvador.
To send a text message
from Costa Rica the
method is similar to
dialing an international
call. For instance,
sending a message to the
US, means dialing 001 +
area code + number, to
the other countries,
like Nicaragua for
example, 00 + 505 +
number.
ICE says the message
will be delivered in
less than a minute and
will cost ¢1.5 colones
per message, the same
cost as messages sent in
Costa Rica. There is no
cost to receive text
messages.
The pilot program is to
give ICE an opportunity
to evaluate the use and
costs before it asks for
regulatory approval for
a rate.
ICE says that once the
pilot program ends and
has had a chance to
evaluate the system, it
will expand it to other
countries and cellular
operators.
Currently there are 1.2
million GSM cellular
lines in use in Costa
Rica. |
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Subscribers to the GSM
network can now text
message to the T-Mobile
in the United States and
four other countries,
including Mexico,
Nicaragua, Panama and El
Salvador. |
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