Telephone Services
Nicaragua is in the final phase of its privatization of telephone services, which were opened to free competition in 2001 under the government regulatory agency the Nicaraguan Institute of Telecommunications and Mail (TELCOR).
Currently, digital-line cell phone service and broadband Internet service is privatized, with landline service scheduled for complete opening by the end of 2005. Regular phone service (landlines) coverage is still low, with slightly more than 3 lines per every 100 inhabitants. There are currently about 205,000 basic phone lines in service (up from 96,000 10 years ago) for a population of around 5.3 million. Public payphones are also available, but scarce.
Cell phones are much more prevalent, with more than double the number of landlines in use (there are close to 500,000 cell phone users throughout the country, and growing rapidly, with a total capacity for more than 2.5 million lines). Cell phone service providers in Nicaragua are: MoviStar (formerly Bell South), Enitel Móvil and Álo PCS.
Spanish company Telefónica Móviles operates MoviStar, and Mexican competitor América Móvil operates Enitel and Álo PCS.
Technically, you are supposed to be a legal resident of Nicaragua to buy a cell phone line that operates on a monthly plan. This can be gotten around easily, though, buy purchasing a phone that operates off of prepaid cards.
Enitel Móvil, Álo PCS and MoviStar all cell phones to nonresidents for anywhere from $24 to $100, depending on the model of phone you want. The phones are sold at all main offices, located in all major cities, and also at phone company distributors. The rented cell phones operate on pre-paid phone cards in denominations $2 to $20. Users are not charged for incoming calls, but are charged dearly for outgoing calls.
Phone calls are expensive in Nicaragua. If you use the phone regularly, it is not uncommon to go through $40/month on local calls, without being chatty.
The high costs of making a phone call creates a curious situation here, where many people have cell phones but no one wants to use them (everyone is waiting for someone else to call them so as not to use their minutes).
Enitel Móvil is the only cell-phone service provider that uses interchangeable chips, allowing users to change cell phones without losing their phone numbers (by putting the chip from the old phone into the new phone).
To call Nicaragua from abroad you’ll have to first dial the country code before the local number. For example, from the U.S. you’ll need to dial 011 + 505 + the local number.
International calls to the United States are very cheap, using Internet Voice-over lines at the Internet Cafes, which are all over the place in major cities. The Internet phone lines are just as clear as regular phone lines, but allow you to call the U.S. for $.09 a minute, about three times cheaper than making a local call.
Calling Internationally from cell phones and other conventional lines is a lot more expensive, $1.26/min to North America, and $2.45 to $3.40/ min to Europe.
To call phone directory services from an Enitel Móvil phone, dial *113 (*110 for long distance service, *121 for customer service). Each cell phone provider has a different toll-free number (*611 for MoviStar) for customer service. Emergency numbers are also free.
To make international calls, dial: 00+country code + area code + phone number
Country codes:Argentina...................................................................54
Austria.......................................................................43
Belgium .....................................................................32
Canada ........................................................................1
Costa Rica ...............................................................506
Germany....................................................................49
Spain .........................................................................34
United States ...............................................................1
France .......................................................................33
Great Britain and Ireland ..........................................44
to dial direct to the United States:
AT&T ......................................................................164
AT&T.................................174 (direct dial calling card)
Faxes can be sent from any Internet Café.
MCI ........................................................................ 166
Sprint ...................................................................... 161
Canada .................................................................... 168
Other Useful Telephone Numbers
Red Cross (Emergency, Ambulance) .......................*128
Red Cross (In Granada) .................................. 552-2711
Fire (from conventional phones) ............................*115
Fire (from cell phone) ............................................*911
Police (emergency).................................................*118
Fire (in Granada) ............................................ 552-4440
Police (in Granada) ......................................... 552-2929
General Information Numbers ................................. 112
Internet cafes abound in Nicaragua
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