
Venezuela consumer protection agency forbids Movistar tariff increases
Venezuela's consumer protection agency Indepabis has forbidden Spanish telco Telefónica's (NYSE: TEF) local unit Movistar Venezuela from increasing any of its service tariffs, the organization said in a release.
Indepabis previously put a Movistar tariff rate increase on hold while it investigated user complaints regarding the situation.
User complaints about the operator include alleged offenses such as rate increases, unfair charges and deceptive advertising.
"We've approved a lot of promotions for Movistar, and we're going to review these offers again because it's inexplicable that on the one hand they say that they'll give you free seconds, minutes or messages for each top-up and on the other hand they increase the tariff," Indepabis' president, Eduardo Samán, said.
Venezuela is a lucrative market for Telefónica, bringing in 1.5bn euros (US$2.05bn) in revenues and 650mn euros in Oibda during the first half of this year, the company said in a results release.
However, due to restrictions on repatriating profits to Spain, Telefónica is thought to have around 18.8bn bolívares (US$2.99bn) which it is unable to take out of Venezuela.
The company is also battling rising inflation in Venezuela. Inflation was 21.1% in Venezuela in 2012, and that figure is expected to increase to 37.9% this year, according to IMF figures.
The risk of a further devaluation of the bolívar could also eat into the value of Telefónica's Venezuelan cash in foreign currency terms.
The company is reportedly planning to boost its spending in the country ahead of a possible further devaluation. Telefónica has already outlined plans to invest 3.4bn bolívares in Venezuela this year, and is now thought to be spending an additional 1.3bn bolívares on its mobile network.
While Venezuela remains a lucrative market for Telefónica, currency effects are already having an impact on the company's results. The operator's Venezuela revenues increased by 40.2% in local currency terms in H1, but decreased by 0.7% in euro terms.
Indepabis is also planning to investigate pay TV companies in Venezuela regarding similar customer complaints, Samán said.
To combat the ongoing "economic war" in the country, "we must go to the root, to the big companies in Venezuela," he added.
Subscribe to the most trusted business intelligence platform in Latin America. Let us show you our solutions for Suppliers, Contractors, Operators, Government, Legal, Financial and Insurance.
News in: ICT (Venezuela)

US crypto platform eyeing Brazil, Colombia, Peru
FreshWealth sees much potential in Latin America and tells BNamericas why cryptocurrencies, currently on a price downswing, are here to stay.
Subscribe to Latin America’s most trusted business intelligence platform.
Other projects in: ICT
Get critical information about thousands of ICT projects in Latin America: what stages they're in, capex, related companies, contacts and more.
- Project: Digital infovia in Mato Grosso do Sul
- Current stage:
- Updated:
8 months ago
- Project: Datacenter in Cancun
- Current stage:
- Updated:
8 months ago
- Project: Datacenter in Guadalajara
- Current stage:
- Updated:
8 months ago
- Project: MX2 Data Center Expansion (Phase 2)
- Current stage:
- Updated:
8 months ago
- Project: Microsoft Cloud Region
- Current stage:
- Updated:
8 months ago
- Project: Second data center for Cloud region
- Current stage:
- Updated:
8 months ago
- Project: Microsoft Cloud Services
- Current stage:
- Updated:
8 months ago
- Project: Oracle Data Center in Mexico
- Current stage:
- Updated:
8 months ago
- Project: South Pacific Submarine Cable (SPSC) (Cable Mistral)
- Current stage:
- Updated:
8 months ago
- Project: Odata data center in Querétaro (DC QR01)
- Current stage:
- Updated:
8 months ago
Other companies in: ICT (Venezuela)
Get critical information about thousands of ICT companies in Latin America: their projects, contacts, shareholders, related news and more.
- Company: Digitel C.A.  (Digitel Venezuela)
-
Corporación Digitel, C.A. (Digitel) provides telecommunication services, offering fixed and mobile telephony and Internet in Venezuela since 1997. Based in Caracas, Digitel belo...
- Company: Corporacion Telemic C.A.  (Inter)
-
Founded in 1996 under the brand name "Intercable", Inter offers cable television, broadband internet and voice telephony services, across a 4,000km fiber network present in 100 ...
- Company: Cámara de Empresas de Servicios de Telecomunicaciones  (CASETEL)
-
The description contained in this profile was taken directly from an official source and has not been edited or modified by BNamericas researchers, but may have been automatical...
- Company: Teléfonica Venezolana C.A.  (Movistar Venezuela)
-
Telefónica (Movistar Venezuela), a subsidiary of Telefónica S.A., provides telecommunications services in Venezuela. The company offers fixed, mobile, national, and long distanc...
- Company: Compañía Anónima Nacional de Teléfonos de Venezuela  (Cantv)
-
Compañía Anónima Nacional Teléfonos de Venezuela (CANTV), based in Caracas, operates in the Venezuelan telecommunications market since 1930, offering services of fixed and mobil...
- Company: Telecomunicaciones Movilnet C.A.  (Movilnet)
-
Telecomunicaciones Movilnet C.A., the Venezuelan mobile telephony arm of state-run telecom operator Cantv, provides a range of wireless services, including voicemail, call forwa...
- Company: Comisión Nacional de Telecomunicaciones de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela  (CONATEL Venezuela)
-
Venezuela's independent telecoms regulator Comisión Nacional de Telecomunicaciones, Conatel, is responsible for working to ensure the quality of services rendered and draw up na...
- Company: Controlca S.A.  (Controlca)