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Directory Information Will Soon
Be Free
Calling 113 - information - will
soon be free of charge.
The Instituto Costarricense de
Electricidad (ICE) has asked the
Aresep - the regulating body on
public prices and services - for
permission to waive the ˘30
colones that it now costs to
call directory information.
The change is due to the
problems ICE has experienced
with the Verizon company who has
been publishing the "white
pages" telephone directory for
various years.
The dispute stems from a change
that Verizon made for the 2005
directory when it decided to
publish regional and San José
numbers in a separate directory,
a change from the previous years
when all the numbers are
published in one book.
The publication of a separate
directory for the provinces and
one for San José means that
someone in Guanacaste or Limón
for example would need to call
113 to get a number for San José
and viceversa.
ICE says that is against their
policy and refused to accept the
directory and it's distribution.
Verizon says that it got the
approval from ICE, while ICE
denies having authorized the
change in publication.
The change will cost ICE some
us$1.2 million dollars in
revenue for the second half of
this year, that being 1/2 of the
amount the 113 service generates
each year.
The loss of revenue, according
to ICE, will be covered by a
security deposit Verizon is
required to maintain in relation
to the publishing contract.
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