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COSTA RICA |
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ICE
Says 3G Ready Next Month
The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad
(ICE), in anticipation of the competition
possibly next year, is introducing its 3G
cellular network next month, just in time
for the Christmas "aguinaldo". ICE has been
notorius in introducing cellular lines just
in time for the Christmas bonus and shopping
season.
This year will be no different, but with a
twist.
This year ICE will be introducing for the
first time the latest in cellular
techonology. But, there is a catch. You need
a 3G enabled cellular phone to get all the
features of the technology.
International Mobile Telecommunications-2000
(IMT-2000), better known as 3G or 3rd
Generation, is a family of standards for
mobile telecommunications defined by the
International Telecommunication Union, which
includes GSM EDGE, UMTS, and CDMA2000 as
well as DECT and WiMAX.
Services include wide-area wireless voice
telephone, video calls, and wireless data,
all in a mobile environment. Compared to 2G
and 2.5G services, 3G allows simultaneous
use of speech and data services and higher
data rates (up to 14.0 Mbit/s on the
downlink and 5.8 Mbit/s on the uplink with
HSPA+).
Thus, 3G networks enable network operators
to offer users a wider range of more
advanced services while achieving greater
network capacity through improved spectral
efficiency.
Cellular phones like the iPhone 3GS,
Blackberry Curve and Nokia's e71 are
examples of 3G phones and their capacity to
send and recevie MMS (multi media services)
like photos, video, music and live
television.
However, it is not clear what services the
950,000 lines will be and will not be
offered at the launch.
ICE did not say a specific date for the
launch of the service, but we can bet it
will by the second week in December, when
the government pays the aguinaldo. Remember,
ICE is a state agency.
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