Sunday 28 December
2008, San José, Costa
Rica
New Ley de
Tránsito Reason For Reduced Holiday
Drunk Driving
243 Customers A Day Have
Cellular Service
Cancelled For Non
Payment
Desamparados Carnaval
Replaces San Jose
Tradition
See Your Genes In A
Whole New Light
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243 Customers A Day Have
Cellular Service
Cancelled For Non
Payment
Tcos love to use their
cellular phone, but not
all love to pay their
bills, on time or at
all.
According to the
Instituto Costarricense
de Electricidad (ICE) -
the state telecom - they
are forced daily to
cancel subscription to
an average 243 cellular
lines for non payment.
The telecom reports that
during January and
November this year, the
institution was forced
to cancel 63.622 TMDA
and 16.744 GSM lines.
Although the number
seems high, it is lower
than that in 2007 when
ICE was cutting off on
average 312 customers
daily.
What happens in such
cases is that new
customers on the waiting
list for a cellular line
get a chance to connect
and are assigned the
number.
Orlando Cascante, a
spokesperson for ICE,
says that the practice
of distributing the
cancelled service occurs
every four months.
ICE's policy is to
"liquidate" (cancel) a
subscription when two
consecutive bills go
unpaid. Within 8 days of
the due date of the
first billing, the
service is suspended and
if the bill is not paid
by the third billing
cycle, the subscription
is automatically
cancelled.
If a customer wants to
reconnect they must pay
the outstanding balance
and all additional
charges like late fees
and reconnection costs.
If the number has not
been assigned to a new
customer, it can be
restored, otherwise the
late paying customer
will have settle for a
new number.
According to Cascante
many customers don't
realize the charges they
are running up and are
surprised when the bill
comes and cannot pay the
charges.
ICE requests as a
deposit of ˘12.500
colones to connect to
the cellular network.
Some customers prefer to
give up the deposit and
lose the line when they
cannot pay and do not
enter into a repayment
arrangement with ICE,
which can take judicial
action to collect unpaid
charges.
Although judicial action
is rare, ICE will not
connect a new service to
any person with
outstanding charges. And
since ICE is the only
cellular provider in the
country, non payment
customers will be left
without cellular
service.
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