73.000 People Still
Waiting For A Telephone
Line
According to the
Instituto Costarricense
de Electricidad (ICE)
there still were, as of
last year, some 73.000
people still waiting to
get a fixed line
telephone. That is
almost half of the
134.500 people who were
on the waiting list in
2002.
The greatest reduction
was in the metropolitan
area (San José),
followed by residents of
Guanacaste, Central
Pacific and Limón.
The reduction came when
ICE purchased 445.000
lines back in 2002 and
has slowly reduced the
number of people waiting
to get a telephone.
ICE says that there are
1.045.000 fixed active
telephone lines today
and capacity for 400.000
more in its switching
system, however it
requires the
infrastructure to get
the cables from the
switching stations to
the homes, according to
Claudio Bermúdez Aquart,
manager of
telecommunications at
ICE.
Bermúdez added that the
investment in the
external work is much
greater than that of the
switching systems and
thus the reason for the
delays.
According to ICE, the
switches with the
greater number of
available lines are in
Pavas, San Pedro and San
José, while areas with
the greater demand for
lines are Heredia,
Escazú, Grecia and
Alajuela.
Many tired of waiting
for a fixed line
telephone opted for a
cellular phone, causing
the current shortage
where ICE has not been
able to meet the demand.
The increase in use of
telephone - both fixed
and mobile - is forcing
ICE to go to an eight
digit telephone number
starting next March,
when all fixed line
telephones will have the
number "2" added at the
beginning of the number
and cellular phones an
"8". |
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