Enacom to reject new increases ordered by communications companies – Telam

The National Communications Entity (Enacom) rejects increases in fixed and mobile telephony, Internet and pay-TV services for August and September that companies have informed users, assured the vice-president of the official agency, Gustavo Lpez. , in Tlam.

“We will reject the increases,” said López, who warned that “What businesses want is an expected 65-70% increase in one year,” an increase he called “nonsense.”

“With increases of this type, protected by justice, many people will find themselves without service,” said the official.

In January of this year, prices for communication services were thawed, On this occasion, Enacom authorized increases of 20% until July 1, while companies increased by around 32%, covered by precautionary measures which stopped the application of the DNU 690 and its regulations which classified pay television, internet and telephones as essential and competing utilities.

“Our target was that there would be no increase until December, but companies have already announced increases for August and September. This week we will reject it,” Lpez said in a dialogue with Tlam .

The vice-president of Enacom recalled that there are precautionary measures initiated by companies which prevent the application of the DNU 690 which declares the internet, fixed and mobile telephony and pay television as an essential public service and in competition, as well as the possibility of regulating prices.

“At this stage, there is no dialogue because everyone has a diametrically opposed position, there is no possibility of settling it: either it is public service, or it is not public service” , López insisted.

The vice president of Enacom said that despite objections to DNU 690, “Companies are investing more than in 2019”, when prices were free.

López concluded that after analyzing the amounts invested over the past six years, “investment does not depend on regulation but on macroeconomics”.

Consulted by the position of those who promote that the state subsidize demand and leave prices free to competition, he indicated that: “to subsidize demand would be: charge what you want the state to pay in full. We say: charge for what is fair, what is reasonable, which we also help ”.

He also stressed that the purpose of the Universal Service Fund is to finance the expansion of networks and that the revenues that exist for this concept will not be enough to subsidize the demand.

Faced with the position of the private sector which claims to be conditioned by the declaration of public service, and in particular by the regulation of prices, López stressed that “we do not attack their profits, but we take care of the consumer”.

He added that the decision to declare the Internet as a public service was taken a year ago when, in the midst of the pandemic, with the current social isolation and the freezing of gas, electricity and water prices, the companies of the sector “wanted to increase again by a brutal mode” the prices of the services.

Last week, President Alberto Fernandez reignited the public debate by asserting that communications is a public service “no matter who it is”.

From the legislative sphere, the official senator Alfredo Luenzo presented a bill which incorporates the same principle as the DNU 690 and the president of the Communications Committee of the Chamber of Deputies, Pablo Carro, said that “in the next Argentina we cannot depend on essential services such as connectivity, only with the criterion of how large companies want to charge them “.

For the vice-president of Enacom, it is clear that “the public debate on the fact that the Internet or telecommunications must have universal access or must be limited by the law of supply and demand is worth it” .

López rejected that the public service statement is a measure that goes against a specific group of companies, given that Telecom was the first company to impose increases greater than those approved by Enacom.

“We never thought of it that way. The circumstances lead us to certain statements because whoever led the fight against it was a specific group,” he said.

He recalled that “it all came from the pandemic” and that “The dialogue for the price hike was broken off as they wanted to increase far beyond what logic indicated.”

He stressed that the declaration of the Internet as an essential service is a recommendation of the United Nations and gave as an example that “Chile already has a half penalty for the public Internet service and Colombia approved it the week last”.

In addition, they have the same qualification for the internet in Mexico, Canada and “some European countries”, added the official.

“We did it, we believe in it and we support it because it seems to us that like electricity, gas and water, it is an essential service in daily life. The public service declaration makes it possible to reflect and discuss forward-looking rules guaranteeing access. We are always ready to talk about everything else, ”López concluded.