Legal Or Not, Telephone Rates To Increase Friday
A telephone call, be it from a fixed line or cellular phone, will be
more expensive come Friday, as the self given rate increase by the
Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) takes effect.
The new rates will be published in the La Gaceta on Friday,
according to Nelson Loaiza, director of the Imprenta Nacional
(national printer).
The new monthly rates for fixed line residential phones will go from
the current ¢1.850 to ¢2.035, and each minute will cost ¢4.50, up
from ¢4.10 during peak hours and ¢2.25, up from ¢2.00 for evenings
and weekends.
In the case of cellular telephones, the basic monthly rates that
includes sixty minutes of call time, will go from ¢2.900 to ¢3.190
colones and each minute thereafter will cost ¢33, up from ¢30, for
peak times and ¢25, up from ¢23, for non peak times.
Cellular text messaging (SMS) will cost ¢5.25 colones per message, a
whopping increase from the current ¢1.50. The higher cost may rest
many thumbs.
Also, the peak and non-peak times have changed.
Currently, peak times is between 7am and 7pm, Monday to Friday,
while non-peak times is 7pm to 7am and all day Saturday and Sundays.
The new peak times will be from 6am to midnight, Monday to Saturday
and non-peak times from 12:01am to 6am, Monday to Saturday and all
day Sunday.
The question of the legality of the rate increase has been raised.
Traditionally all rate increases have to be approved by the
Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios Públicos (Aresep).
ICE officials say that was the case under the old rules, but with
the introduction of the Ley de Telecommunicaciones and the formation
of the Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones (Sutel) which opens
the market to competition, ending the 80 year monopoly on
telecommunications held by ICE, the state telecom does not need the
Aresep approval.
However, Sutel, which now has a full board of directors and under
the wing of the Aresep, says that it has the authority to regulate
ICE rates and the state telecom cannot give itself a raise as it
wishes.
For his part, Pedro Pablo Quirós, said he will defent the
interpretation of the law and will defend the rate increase tooth
and nail.
For its part, the Aresep said it will not act until the first
complaint against the new rates are filed by consumers.
Notwithstanding the bickering between the Sutel and ICE, come
Friday, telephone rates will increase.
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