80.000 GSM Lines Still
Up For Grabs
The Instituto
Costarricense de
Electricidad (ICE)
opened the day yesterday
with some 90.000 new GSM
lines ready for
connection and closed
with a balance of 80.323
lines, as customers
waiting to connect their
cellular phones took
advantage of those who
had reserved but did not
connect by the Sunday
deadline.
According to Elbert
Durán, an ICE
spokesperson, the lines
are now open to the
public and will first be
offered to those who
placed their name on the
waiting list of the
previous weeks and then
the balance made
available on a first
come first served basis.
ICE has the capacity to
connect 10.000 customers
daily at its branches
and authorized dealers.
The lines available for
connection are those
lines that were made
available last December
17 to those who had put
their name on the
waiting list and did not
connect by the deadling
of closing of business
on Sunday.
To get connected, ICE
requires a deposit of
˘12.500 colones, a copy
of a utility bill, a
receipt for the purchase
of the GSM cellular
phone and a copy of the
customer's cedula.
Non-residents of Costa
Rica cannot connect to
the cellular network.
In other cellular news,
last week ICE announced
the ability to send and
receive text messages to
and from Costa Rica in a
pilot program that will
last six months.
Cellular users in Costa
Rica, during the pilot
program, can send and
receive text messages to
the cellular phones in
the United States and
others in Mexico,
Nicaragua, Panama and El
Salvador. In the United
States, messages can can
only be sent and
received from users
connnected to T-Mobile.
Durán said that during
the first week of the
program 17.000 messages
were sent. |
|
