Ads For Cellular Lines by ICE Appear For First Time in A Loooonnnnnnggggg Time!
For the first time in a long time, the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) - the state monopoly on telecommunications - has placed an in ad in the local Spanish language newspapers, promoting the availability of cellular telephone lines.

The ad shows a white chalk drawing of a man walking his dog, with the headline "we present you Martin..." Martin, because he doesn't have a cellular telephone, is invisible, no one can find him, he can't be located.

On December 5, ICE began selling the first 250.000 cellular lines of the 600.000 lines of the new GSM network installed by the Ericsson company, following a couple of years of uncertainty and charges of corruption and payoffs. The other 350.000 will be available in the coming months, 50.000 in January and the rest by March.

At first ICE had announced that all 250.000 lines were spoken for and that those who hadn't placed an order prior to the December 5 would have to wait until March.

Long lines formed in the first few days, but only 150.000 lines were sold until yesterday, according to Claudio Bermúdez Aquart, a manager of Telecomunicaciones del ICE. The first week customers were told only to make line if they had a reservation number less than 250.000 and that those who didn't would be able to make their connection within 15 days, that is December 20.

However, by December 12, ICE announced that anyone with ¢12.500 colones in hand, a cellular phone and the required documentation, would now be connected without the need of a prior request.

Sales have been steady but not what had been expected.

Unlike the past, this time around, customers do not have to go to ICE to get connected. Some 800 authorized agents, among them cellular telephone retail stores and department stores, like ImportadoraMonge and Casa Blanca, can sell you a phone and active the line immediately.

In addition to the ¢12.500 colones deposit, customers have to the telephone or a receipt for the purchase of the telephone that will be connected, a copy of a utility bill and a the cedula. Non-residents are not able to connect to the cellular network.

In the case of corporate customers, in addition to the deposit and the equipment, an original of the "personeria" - a document authorizing an individual to contract in behalf of the corporation and the copy of the corporate cedula.

Reports that some retailers of cellular telephones are not asking for the 'required' documents have come to our attention. A warning, ICE has not made any changes to the requirements to connect to the cellular network and anyone stating the contrary is either misinformed or setting you up for fraud.