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Cellular Lines Almost Sold Out
Decided to give in to the new
world of the cellular phone?
Well, don't wait too much
longer, because the Instituto
Costarricense de Electricidad
(ICE) - the state monopoly on
telecommunications - announced
that it has only 15.000 cellular
lines left.
The lines are of the "new" GSM
service that was part of 600.000
lines that were offered for the
first time last December.
ICE did not foresee the high
demand and will in a matter of
days become dry and go back to
the way things were for the
couple of years before the "new"
system was installed by the
Ericsson company.
Of the 400.000 lines of the
"old" GSM network installed by
Alcatel, there aren't any and
neither does ICE have any new
TDMA - old technology - lines.
Costa Rica currently has 1.5
million cellular subscribers.
Geovanni Bonilla, legal director
for ICE, says that the
institution is studying ways of
getting more lines from either
Alcatel or Ericsson, or both,
without having to go through the
lenghty bidding process that can
take up to two years. The legal
director said that they are
studying ways of expanding the
current GSM networks.
Orlando Cascante, director of
mobile services, said that every
day thousands visit an ICE
office or an authorized agent to
purchase a line and in a matter
of days all the lines will be
gone.
For a foreigner to purchase a
cellular line in Costa Rica, one
has to present a "residency
cedula", failing which service
is denied.
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