Customers With No Defense Against Unwanted Cellular Messages
First there was junk mail in our mailboxes. Then our computer mailboxes were filled with "spam". Now, our cellular telephones are targets of unwanted and undesired messages.

Anyone with a cellular phone in Costa Rica has experienced the growing nuisance of receiving text messages for just about anything, from promotions to contests to specials at a the local department store. More and more cellular phone users are becoming victims of the nuisance.

The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) says that most of the messages come from another cellular phone or special equipment, using a land or cellular phone line, can broadcast a message to thousands of cellular phones at one time and sent to specific numbers on a calling list.

ICE officials says there is nothing they or the customer can do. Their number has been entered into a database and the will continue to be a target, as there is no law or regulation in place that the state agency can apply to stop and fine offenders.

In addition, ICE has allowed a number of companies - 66 in total - who have permission to send text messages. The authorized companies have to abide by the terms of the contract which can be rescinded if too many customers complain of unwanted messages. ICE officials say the authorized companies use the system to send promotional messages but are to remove a number from their send list if the customer requests it.

Sending messages over a cellular telephone is an effective marketing tool and if applied correctly can provide positive results at a low cost. The average cost of sending a promotional text message is ¢9 colones per message.

Fortunately, for the time being only SMS text messages can be sent over the current cellular networks, as ICE does not permit the transmission of video files, that would change the type of promotional messages.