Osiptel declares Entel’s appeal unfounded and confirms fines of almost S / 600 thousand

The Supervising Agency for Private Investment in Telecommunications (Osiptel) declared unfounded the appeal filed last September by the company Americatel Perú SA, belonging to the Entel Group, and confirmed four fines against him for 131.4 tax units (UIT), equivalent to 578 thousand 160 soles.

Through the Directing Council Resolution No. 231-2021-CD / OSIPTEL, the supervisory body confirmed a fine of 16.9 UIT against Entel for having committed an infraction typified in article 2 of Annex 5 of the Single Ordered Text of the Conditions of Use of Public Telecommunications Services (TUO), for having failed to comply with the provisions of article 45 of the aforementioned regulation, during service interruptions that occurred in the first semester of 2019.

This was followed by a second confirmed fine of 5.7 UIT against the Chilean capital company for a similar offense during the second half of that same year, when they were still in confinement due to the pandemic.

What does article 45 of the TUO say? That in the event of service interruption due to causes not attributable to the subscriber or user, the operating company will not be able to make charges corresponding to the duration of the interruption. Article 2 of Annex 5 classifies it as a “minor” offense. The return or compensation to the clients had to be carried out in accordance with the apportionment periods established in article 40.

According to the resolution, Entel carried out during 2019 the untimely refund for the improper charge of 3 lines, and in 46 it simply did not make any.

Osiptel also confirmed a fine of 57.8 UIT to Entel for having committed an infraction typified in article 3 of Annex 5 of the TUO, for having breached the provisions of its article 93, with respect to the interruptions that occurred in the first half of 2019 .

The last fine, of 51 UIT, was imposed for the same reasons as the previous one, but during the second part of that same year.

In this case, article 93 indicates that the lessor will have the obligation to compensate the tenants who are authorized to provide public telecommunications services, when for reasons not attributable to them, the services of any circuit are suspended, except in the cases of fortuitous event or force majeure provided that the landlord has acted diligently. Article 3 of Annex 5 is in charge of classifying it as “serious”.

In this sense, Entel incurred the extemporaneous discount of 214 circuits, while in another 114, it simply did not carry out any.

It should be noted that this Osiptel resolution exhausts administrative proceedings, not proceeding any appeal in this way. The next step for the company would be prosecution.