Vandals Wreak Havoc On Cellular Subscribers
Unbelievable, but the residents of the communities of Vencia, San Francisco, Tinoco and Villa Briceño de Osa, in the southern part of the country, are still, nine months later, without cellular service.

Apparently, thieves made off with cables of the radio antennas in the area, for the purpose of recovering the copper content of the cables, to sell the metal. That was last September.

In addition, the area of Abrojo de Corredores which affects mostly the residents of La Fortuna, barrio el Carmen and the Ciudad Neily hospital, are also without service, again, due to cable theft.

Pablo Garrido. Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) maintenance chief of the southern zone, said that thieves have taken to stealing cables along the Interamerinca Sur, causing many in the area to not be able to make or receive cellular calls.

According to Garrido, users of the GSM network installed by Ericsson are the most affected as ICE has already repaired the damage caused to the GSM network installed by Alcatel.

Garrido added that they expect to restore service completely to the Osa area within four weeks and will have in place new security measures to minimize vandalism.

During the past week, users have complained of loss of complete service in the Saripiquí and parts of Alajuela on cellular phones connected to the Alcatel GSM network.

One customer who called Inside Costa Rica told us that a visit to the local ICE agency resulted in being told that it was a problem of the subscribers telephone and not the network. without any adjustment, the phone began to work by the end of the day.


The problem of cable theft is not confined just to the southern zone, but a national problem, according to ICE officials.