by Rod Hughes
Next March 20, most Costa Rican phones will have an eight-digit numbers, at a cost to the Electrical Institute (ICE) of $15 million to bring all the machinery up to speed.
Some numbers will not change, such as 911 emergency, 115 ICE customer service, 118 fire department and the 128 Red Cross lines, plus the 800 toll-free numbers. The commercial numbers 900 and 905 will also remain the same.
Demonstrating how rapid phone line growth has been, the change from six to seven digits has only been in effect since March 31, 1994. But ICE promises that the eight-digits will be good for the next 40 years.
Interestingly, cell phone use has surpassed fixed operation lines. According to an article in the daily paper La Nacion, there are currently a million fixed phones in Costa Rica (roughly 765,000 home phones and 235,000 commercial lines) while cell phone lines are now at 1.5 million (a million under the GSM system and 500,000 TDMA).
But those who have been waiting forever for a new line should not get their hopes up, the paper warned. The new numbers do not mean that new lines will magically be created. ICE’s Claudio Bermudez told the paper that new machinery is being purchased for new lines but refused to specify which areas or communities would be benefited.
So lines are not only found strung on poles or in electronic switchboards but also at ICE offices, composed of people standing around to apply for a phone number of any number of digits.

by Rod Hughes
And immigration reform bill to speed up the torturous process of getting residency apparently is on a fast track in the Legislative Assembly, thanks to a multi-party accord.
Sponsored by Security Minister Fernando Berrocal and Immigration Director Mario Zamora, the bill would erase the currrent legislation that went into effect only last September but which President Oscar Arias refused to implement fully, pointing to its potential for human rights abuse and increased red tape as fatal defects.
Zamora, whose dynamic attempts to unsnarl the notoriously complex procedures and corruption at Immigration have earned him admiration of many—and a stiff reprimand from the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court—has called the current law “unworkable.”
Although it only submitted the bill to congress 10 days ago, the Arias Administration hopes to put the bill on top priority in August for the extraordinary congressional session where the Executive Branch as more say about what gets first treatment.
The bill has the full approval of the leaders of two of the biggest voting blocs in congress, Citizen Action Party floor leader Elizabeth Fonseca and Libertarians Mario Nunez and Jose Manuel Echandi. One would assume that it can count on the majority of votes from the President’s own National Liberation Party.
Zamora’s efforts to wrestle with the incredible snakepit at Immigration have earned him plaudits but also a few lumps so far, the worst administered by the court, which censured him for blocking the granting of residency visas obtained by the clearly bogus—but legal—marriage to Costa Rican women. Most of the women were poor and were offered a bribe to marry foreign men they had never met, even after the marriage.
But Immigration needs more than just a procedural overhaul. Zamora needs to revamp the computerized registry, among other changes. He says he has already talked with the Ministry of Finance for the extra funds to administer the reform.