Guatemalan court upholds controversial telco law

A Guatemalan court has ruled against suspending a controversial telecoms law approved last month.

The constitutional court said it was upholding all 12 articles of the law that were challenged on May 6 by indigenous peoples, who say the law violates telecom and property rights and municipal autonomy, news website Siglo21 reported.

The court has yet to rule on another appeal filed last week, also by indigenous groups.

On April 8, congress received, debated and approved in just a few hours a 17-article law to strengthen telecoms infrastructure and control signals in prisons.

But the law, which took effect on April 25, prompted a backlash by indigenous groups, municipalities and SMEs, who say the legislation favors just three companies - Tigo, Claro and Movistar - by giving them too much authority to install transmission towers, posts and cabling on public and private property.

Under article 4, companies with at least 6,000km of fiber optic lines in place or with 100,000 or more access lines can ask telecoms regulator Sit to install certain infrastructure on both public or private property.

The institute of national problems (Ipnusac) wrote in a publication this month that the new law would waive easement requirements for those three companies.

"Articles 10 and 14 of the law give companies that need to install data transmission infrastructure broad discretion to access individual property," Ipnusac wrote.

However, Sit director Eddy Padilla said there has been much disinformation surrounding the law.

"Many people think that a carrier can arrive at any place or private property and install a tower, but that's not true," Padilla was quoted as saying by Siglo21. "The law is very clear, since if the carrier does not provide the contract with the property owner, we can't issue any authorizations."

Critics also say the law undermines municipal authorities by giving Sit sweeping powers to issue telecom infrastructure permits, removing the authority once held by municipalities.

The national municipalities association (Anam) told BNamericas that the new law "criminalizes mayors" by requiring them to comply with Sit decisions and imposing large penalties and prison sentences of up to eight years for hindering municipal telecoms infrastructure from being installed.

The telecoms law also harms SMEs and future investment, according to Ipnusac.

"The fact that the requirements to participate in the data transmission business can only be met by no more than three companies means an obstacle for smaller companies to participate and develop in the sector," Ipnusac said.

For its part, the industry chamber said the law affects free competition by favoring only certain companies, local daily La Prensa Libre reported.

The indigenous groups' appeal is not the only one. Last week, the Guatemalan association of indigenous mayors and authorities (Agaai) also appealed 14 articles of the law, requesting certain environmental provisions and reduced penalties for noncompliance.