2008 Telephone Directory
With Eight Digit Phone
Numbers Ready in January
Come March 20, 2008, all
Costa Rican phones
numbers will get an
extra digit, as the
country passes from a
seven digit phone number
to eight.
The change, adding a "2"
before every fixed line
phone number in the
country and an "8" to cellular
phones, is an effort by
the Instituto
Costarricense de
Electricidad (ICE) -
state monopoly on
telecommunications - to
meet the growing demands
of the country.
ICE opted for the eight
digit number instead of
adding another area
code. In the change, the
number 211 0000
will change to 2211 0000
and the cellular number
399 0000 changes to
8399 0000.
The change will be
reflected in the 2008
telephone books that
will be available in
January, three months
ahead of the actual
change to the numbering
system.
The "official telephone
book" published by the
Radiográfica
Costarricense (Racsa) is
the only book that
contains all the
numbers, Racsa manager,
said Roger Carvajal.
Racsa is a subsidiary of
ICE and was given the
contract to publish the
2008 telephone directory
after ICE cancelled its
contract with the
Verizon two years ago.
November 15ths is the
cut off date for
businesses to add their
advertising and
telephone numbers to the
telephone directory.
Racsa says that so far
it has sold us$9 million
dollars in advertising,
surpassing the 2007
edition of us$3 million
dollars in advertising
sales.
In addition to the
telephone directory, a
call to "113 digital" or
a visit to the
www.grupoice.com webpage
will list all the
telephone numbers in the
directory.
Cellular numbers will
not be listed in the
telephone directory, nor
be available by calling
113 or online.
Claudio Bermúdez,
subgerente de
Telecomunicaciones at
ICE, says that the 113
and online information
is an expansion of ICE
services, multiplying
services offered in the
past.
In addition, Bermúdez
confirmed that the Banco
Centroamericano de
Integración Económica (BCIE)
has presented its
proposal for the
purchase and financing
of the 3G - third
generation - of cellular
service that ICE is in
the process of acquiring
and put in place by the
end of 2008 which will
add 1.5 million cellular
lines to the existing
1.5 million now in use.
The new purchase will
cost us$200 million
dollars. |
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