Government Raids Bypass Installations

Ecuadorian telecoms regulator Suptel, along with the national police, the district attorney's office and an unnamed mobile operator, raided a bypass facility in Guayaquil, Suptel reported in a statement.

Those responsible for the bypassing operation had already connected sophisticated equipment to some 100 mobile base stations, 14 of which were operating at the time of the raid.

This is the first time that a bypassing operation has been detected in mobile installations.

The offenders, who have not yet been identified, had also rented an office with an as-yet undetermined number of identical bypassing devices, Suptel spokesperson Mario Jarrín told BNamericas. All the equipment was seized in the raid.

Article 422 of the Ecuadorian penal code establishes a penalty of between one and five years in prison for offenses such as bypassing. Jarrín added that the prosecutor's office has not yet announced if it will also press charges for tax evasion.

Bypassing is the most common form of phone fraud in Ecuador. It circumvents the normal international long distance routes, allowing international calls to be billed as local.

This deprives Ecuadorian operators of the US$0.11 a minute international transfer fee they would normally be paid, at the same time evading the taxes that would normally be levied on such calls.

Ecuadorian telecoms operators lose some US$240mn a year to telephone fraud, as BNamericas has previously reported, with bypassing being the most common technique used.

Guayaquil is served by two mobile operators, Am

Posted to the site on 18th February 2006