Intelco powers up, ready for Oct. 31 launch

The ceremony may have been lost in the hoopla of the Independence Day weekend, but on Sunday night fireworks in Belize City, Ladyville and Orange Walk marked the technical launch of Intelco. Guests at the Sunday evening ceremony, including Communications Minister Vildo Marin, made the first official phone calls on the new system to customers in Belize and friends and family abroad. According to the telecommunications company, this is a sure signal to the Belizean public that they will be ready by the October thirty-first deadline to roll out their services countrywide. It is hoped by that time Intelco and B.T.L. will come to an agreement on a set of rates for interconnection of the two competing systems. If not, the Public Utilities Commission will be forced to unilaterally dictate the charges.