ICE Expects New GSM Lines by April
Costa Rica's state power and telecom group, the Instituto Costarricende de Electricidad (ICE), said it plans to start negotiations this week for the supply of additional GSM lines. The news was reported by the Spanish local daily Capital Financiero.

The new lines are needed to answer increased consumer demand and should be ready for the market in three months. Also under discussion is a plan to launch a 3G network by year-end.

The operator has various issues to resolve with equipment providers Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson, such as improved transmission between each supplier's infrastructure, better signal quality and improving value added services over these networks.

To enable a rapid rollout of new lines by April ICE plans to open the tender out to other suppliers.

ICE is also in a final test stage of equipment that would facilitate a wider geographical availability of SMS service.

The upgrades are considered important as Costa Rica prepares to sign the Central American Free Trade Agreement with the US, as well as drafting separate legislation for market liberalization, the paper quoted ICE spokesman Giovanni Bonilla as saying.

However, if the past is to repeat itself, internal problems and the time it takes to obtain the necessary approvals and install the network, 12- 18 months is more realistic.

Currently ICE only has available TDMA lines for subscribers to cellular service and plans to make available in the first quarter of 2007 several thousand GSM lines, lines that have been lost by customers not paying their bills or switching to TDMA.