ICT regulatory watch: Peru, Chile, Mexico

The Peruvian courts have confirmed the obligation of Azteca Comunicaciones, the former operator of the backbone fiber optic network (RDNFO), to acquire the land where the nodes of the network have been built. 

The company sought to overturn a ruling issued in 2021 that it must make these acquisitions, instead obliging the State, the current operator of the wholesale network, to be responsible for buying these lands.

The properties where the backbone network nodes are located are valued at US$20mn.

"With this court ruling, the MTC [transport and communications ministry] has prevented economic damage to the State and reaffirmed the company's obligation to comply with the contractual obligations stipulated in the concession contract," explained MTC legal representative David Ortiz Gaspar in a release from the ministry.

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Juscelino Filho, appointed communications minister by President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva, will retain two top officials from the former government at the ministry. 

The officials are Maximiliano Martinhão and Wilson Wellisch, who will serve as secretary of telecommunications and secretary of broadcasting, respectively.

Martinhão worked as broadcasting secretary in Jair Bolsonaro government and had also been a telecommunications secretary in Dilma Rousseff's government, local outlet TeleSintese reported. Wellisch, meanwhile, served at the ministry in the areas of radio broadcasting and telecommunications under the last government, in addition to briefly chairing regulator Anatel.

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Peruvian regulator Osiptel has rejected appeals filed by telecommunications companies Telefónica del Perú and Entel against punitive rulings on coverage and service quality failings for lacking foundation.

Osiptel confirmed resolution 140/2022 against Telefónica and ratified that it must pay 37 fines of 1.23 UIT each (tax unit equivalent to 4,950 soles (US$1,300)] and another of 150 UIT for non-compliance with regulations on supervision of coverage of public telecommunications services.

An appeal filed by Entel against resolution 311/2022 was also thrown out and the regulator confirmed that it will have to pay three fines of 8.7 UIT each and another six fines of 1.2 UIT for non-compliance with telecommunications service quality regulations.

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A regulation has gone into force in Chile that obliges telecommunications companies to block devices reported as stolen in order to prevent them from being sold on the black market. These devices will be blocked using their IMEI numbers.

"With this measure of blocking stolen cell phones we will discourage a type of crime that has been on the increase," the undersecretary of crime prevention, Eduardo Vergara, said in a release from regulator Subtel. 

"This will not only allow the investigation and prosecution processes to be sped up, but above all, to prevent the sale of packaged and new cellular telephone equipment, attacking the center of a market that is not only growing in Chile, but in all of Latin America," he added.

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Peruvian regulator Osiptel decided to postpone until March 31 the mandatory use of a unique password for the procedures involving new contracts, changes of ownership and replacement of SIM cards, reported local newspaper Gestión. 

The ruling was due to go into effect on January 12.

The measure is intended to prevent identity theft when users contract services or request the replacement of SIM cards.

The biometric validation of authorized distributors involved in contracting mobile services will go into force on January 12. The measure will allow greater traceability for contracted services and identification of those involved in the contracting process.

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Mexican regulator IFT has submitted to public consultation the two-year assessment of the impact of the asymmetric measures imposed on the preponderant economic agent América Móvil. 

The consultation will be open until February 15, 2023, here, in Spanish.

The information collected will serve as an input to help assess the impact of the asymmetric measures on competition in the market, the regulator stated in a release.

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A group of legislators from the Somos Perú party submitted a bill to the lower house of congress to allow users of internet, mobile and other telecommunications services to accumulate unused services at the end of their monthly billing period for use in subsequent months.