ICE Defends Right To Raise
Telephone Rents Without Approval
The president of the
Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), Pedro Pablo Quirós,
said the telephone rate increase the public institution gave itself
will be in force as soon as it is published in La Gaceta.
The state telecom announced rate increases last week without the
approval of the Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (Aresep),
saying that the newly passed Ley General de Telecomunicaciones and
the Ley de Fortalecimiento y Modernización de las Entidades Públicas
del Sector de Telecomunicaciones which has broken up the 80 year
monopoly held by ICE, saying it can do so under the new rules in the
market.
Quirós insists that the institution that the rate change is not an
increase but rather "an adjustment" and defends that under the new
rules regulating telecommunications it does not need the approval of
the Aresep, as it was required in the past.
The executive's comments continued with saying that the newly
created Superintendencia de Telecommunicacions (SUTEL) is the
competent authority with regards to telecommunications and thes the
SUTEL is not the Aresep.
Roberto Dobles, ministro de Ambiente, Energía y Telecomunicaciones (Minaet),
refused to comment on the case, saying that the spat between the
Aresep and ICE should be settled by the SUTEL and would not comment.
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