Committee Asks for Special Powers to Investigate Peru's Telecoms Collapse

Peru's parliamentary consumer defense committee has asked congress for special powers to investigate the reasons for the telecommunications blackout that occurred in the country after the recent earthquake, local news service Perú 21 reported.

The initiative was proposed by parliamentarian Cenaida Uribe and has to be studied by congress.

The proposal is to conduct a full investigation over a 30-day period into the alleged responsibility of the telecoms operators for the communications breakdown.

According to the report, with the special powers, the committee will also be able to question executives from operators currently under investigation.

In parallel, the country's transport and communications ministry (MTC) is already seeking an external auditor to investigate whether telecommunications networks were at fault.

Operators have argued the interruption to communications was mainly caused by unusually high congestion of traffic. The companies also reported damage to fiber optic networks.

According to Uribe, the committee has not yet defined a work schedule for the investigation, the report said.

The parliamentary committee also expects to hold a special meeting to further discuss the issue with MTC's head Verónica Zabala, regulator Osiptel's president Guillermo Thornberry and representatives from Claro Perú, the local unit of Mexico's América Móvil, Nextel Perú, of US-based NII Holdings, and fixed line incumbent Telefónica del Perú, owned by Spanish giant Telefónica.

Posted to the site on 30th August 2007