Congressman Pushes for Higher Fines for Operator Violations

Ecuadorian parliamentarian Milton Altamirano of the left-wing nationalist and opposition party (PSP) has presented a bill to congress proposing reforms to the country's telecommunications law to make repeated violations of concessions contracts on the part of telecoms operators punishable by fines of up to US$3mn, congress reported on its website.

According to the bill, the country's regulator Suptel would be in charge of deciding when a violation of a services contract has been committed. The parliamentarian said the bill is designed to assist in guaranteeing user rights and improving services.

Altamirano said that the current punishment mechanism of suspending service only hurts the customer.

Violations of contracts considered under the bill include hiding or destroying technical or financial information and failing to hand in information or submitting imprecise information requested by Suptel.

Other infractions include blocking users cell phones, not meeting service coverage and quality requirements, and not allowing inspections or audits to be carried out on their premises.

The bill says that service suspension would be punishable by US$500,000 while not providing quality service could result in a fine worth US$500,000-$1mn. Such fines could triple for repeat offenders.

Posted to the site on 19th November 2007