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Subtel justified the proposed 80% reduction. "Nothing justifies a minute of voice that costs more than a WhatsApp," he said.
The coming weeks will be intensive in the mobile phone sector. On Monday, the government tabled its proposal to set the rates that will govern the sector between 2019 and 2024: it has resulted in a reduction of more than 80% in access charges.
Claro, Wom and VTR (the competitors) intervened to support the authority. But Entel (who, with Movistar, dominate) questioned the proposal.
Transport and Telecommunications Minister Gloria Hutt said: "What the government wants is for access fees to be brought back to a level compatible with new technologies."
By law , the access fees, which correspond to the fees charged by one telephone company to another to terminate a call on its network, are set every five years and the last process ends with a reduction 73%. The average today is $ 8.76 per minute.
For the current process, Subtel introduced the 4G network of the model company, which, along with another set of indicators in which the effective company was defined, was proposed. average access fee of US $ 1.36 per minute, which aims to generate more competition.
Entel asked that only the 4G network would be integrated with the model company, and not the old systems (3G and 2G). [19659004] "While the dominant technology in the country is 4G, in Chile, more than 10 million people use 3G to communicate and the proposal of Subtel does not take into account this technology," said the head of the regulation and business. Company Headquarters, Manuel Araya
He stated that the proposed network did not meet the current and future demand for mobile telephony, which would prevent adequate service to all customers.
However, Telecommunications Undersecretary Pamela Gidi was adamant to defend the proposal.
"There is no technical or economic justification for a voice minute costing more than a WhatsApp or an e-mail, which is why, like Subtel, we believe that our proposal for royalties access must comply with international standards, in which the voice is already considered as an additional piece of information, "he said.
Claros Chile's director of legal and regulatory affairs, Cristián Salgado, said: "We are fully convinced that the 4G network is the technically appropriate technology to offer any effective business model."
Similarly, VTR badessed the technical "robustness" of the proposal. The company's Vice President of Legal Affairs and Enterprises, Miguel Oyonarte, supported the decision of the authority because, he acknowledges, recognizes the technical and economic reality of the market.
"This justifies a significant reduction in access fees, this is essential for the competitiveness of the industry and the reduction of tariffs," he said.
While Wom highlighted the proposal, Regulatory and Corporate Affairs Director Felipe Simonsohn said that access fees would be even lower.
"This will bring more benefits to competition and consumers," he said.
Movistar avoided making statements.
After the government has submitted its proposal, corporations have a period of five days to publish a report. Modifications and Insistences (IMI) to Subtel.
The idea is that the company using this resource goes before a commission of experts, a procedure in which it proposes an expert, the under-secretary designates another and together they appoint a third party.
Their opinion is not binding, but given the reputation of those who publish them, they generally resolve disputes. If the company is still not satisfied, you can call the controller.
According to the deputy minister's forecasts, the decrees will be ready by the end of January 2019.
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