ICE Admits Cell Woes

ICE, the former telecommunications monopoly, admits to having a few problems even before licenses are granted to open up the market for competition. Last Friday, its 3G cell phone network crashed for hours when routine task of shifting data from 10 bases to a newer card went awry.

And deadbeat customers who bought its Kolbi package owe the phone company a stiff 3.5 billion colones back payments, even at 500 colones or so per dollar, a pretty piece of change.

The problem with 3G cell service lasted only from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. but their collection task, some needing to go through court, will take longer to fix. The Kolbi package that was initiated last December, meant to woo customers, offering a 3G phone with line and minutes financed from 12 to 24 months.

Good promotion, one might observe, except that 25,000 of them (80% of the total) now are behind in their payments. As the news blog Top 10 Costa Rica observed, "ICE offered high end as well as medium price cell phones by Nokia, Sony Ericksson, and others with only a signature and a 12,500 colon security deposit."

Customers could choose their payment terms with or without minutes. Favors being few from ICE, customers flocked to the offer. Ruefully, ICE's billing director, Francisco Calvo, commented that current regulations are stricter for those wanting cell phone financing.