GSM Expansion to Improve Local Coverage
Costa Rican state power and telecoms monopoly ICE expects to improve service in 33 rural communities through its recently announced network expansion, local daily La Nación reported.
The project is part of a US$65mn contract awarded to Swedish telecoms equipment provider Ericsson two weeks ago to add 300,000 GSM lines to ICE's existing 600,000-line network.
The contract stipulates that Ericsson should install 58 new base stations bringing the total to 280 nationwide.
According to Francisco Sánchez, director of Ericsson's Costa Rican unit, currently ICE's network covers 80% of metropolitan areas and only 20% of rural areas.
ICE expects to close this year with 2mn installed lines, which include both GSM and TDMA. The company is also planning a tender for 3G mobile services as well in the short term."
Posted to the site on 27th June 2007
