ICE Breaks Ties
With Alcatel, Finally!
The Instituto
Costarricense de
Electricidad (ICE)
decided to end once and
for all its relationship
with Alcatel. The
announcement was made
yesterday by ICE
president, Pedro Pablo
Quirós.
Quirós added that ICE
will also sue Alcatel
for us$60 million dollar
in damages, refusing
Alcatel's offer of
telephone equipment in
lieu of the cash
payment.
Quirós made it clear
that the decision will
in now way affect the
400.000 cellular
customers who are
connected to the GSM
network installed by
Alcatel and will ICE
will take control
directly of the
maintenance and
operation of the
network.
The move is possible
because the network
actually belongs to the
Banco Centroamericano de
Integración Económica (BCIE),
who purchased the
equipment from Alcatel
and is leasing it back
to ICE.
"Customers will not see
any difference in
service as we are
prepared to take over
the maintenance and
operation of the
network", said Geovanni
Bonilla, ICE's legal
director.
The Alcatel network is
one of two GSM networks
installed in Costa Rica,
the other by the
Ericsson company.
Quirós said that the
decision to break ties
with Alcatel are based
on the fact that Alcatel
has continually not
fulfilled its
obligations in providing
adequate service,
specfically in the area
of equipment
maintenance, which has
led customer complaints
of poor service.
According to Quirós,
Alcatel was willing to
pay the fine imposed on
it by ICE for
non-compliance in return
for ICE accepting that
there were no problems
with the network.
The actual final bill
that ICE is presenting
Alcatel is for us$75
million dollars, us$15
million of which will be
drawn from a guarantee
posted by Alcatel at the
signing of the contract.
Alcatel has proposed to
install and additional
200.000 GSM lines to
satisfy ICE's demands,
an offer that was
rejected by ICE's board
of directors.
The original contract
was us$149 million
dollars ends at the end
of this year and was the
centre of controversy of
alleged bribes and
payoffs of ICE and
government officials
that led to charges
brought against a number
of ICE high ranking
officials, Alcatel
management and former
Costa Rican president,
Miguel Angel Rodríguez. |
