MNP plows ahead, despite objections from ICE

Costa Rican watchdog Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones (Sutel) will select a mobile number portability (MNP) administrator after a committee of representatives from the nation’s cellcos – including virtual operators Tuyo and Full Mobile – failed to reach a unanimous decision. El Financiero writes that incumbent ICE Celular opposed the committee’s decision in a four to one vote, continuing its policy of delaying the implementation of MNP; TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database notes that the regulator had rejected 20 appeals from the operator to halt or delay MNP. Under the regulator’s guidelines, a unanimous decision from the committee was required. Failing that, Sutel will now decide on an administrator from the four competing companies, Telcordia Technologies, Informatica El Corte Ingles, Teletech and CESA-Porting Consortium. A decision is expected before the end of the week.