| Nicaragua: Telecoms regulator tries to control market |
|
|
| Monday, 27 June 2005 | |
|
Nicaragua’s outgoing telecommunications regulator Telcor is refusing to hand over control of the market to a new director appointed by the National Assembly. The move is a protest over the Assembly’s attempts to block the liberalisation of the telecommunications sector.
The Assembly appointed Freddy Carrión as the new telecommunications comptroller, but Telcor is reluctant to relinquish power to him until liberalisation issues are resolved. Telcor has the support of president Enrique Bolaños. The president secured an injunction at the Central American Justice Court against Carrión taking office and the new comptroller was refused entry to the regulator’s offices. Telcor originally planned to liberalise Nicaragua’s telecom market in December 2004. The proposal included the transformation of Telcor into the Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones (Sitep), which would operate as part of the public services watchdog, Superintendencia de Servicios Públicos (Sisep). This structure is intended to transfer regulatory power away from the government to the legislature. However, the National Assembly moved the liberalisation date back to 15 April 2005 after fixed-line incumbent Enitel pointed out that its most recent concession contract granted it exclusivity until that date. The April deadline was questioned when the Assembly recommended new anti-monopoly laws before power was handed over to Sisep. A compromise was reached before the deadline, whereby Telcor oversaw market liberalisation with a view to handing power to Sisep later in the year. However, the Assembly is now pushing for new anti-monopoly legislation to be put in place before Sisep takes control. Telcor believes that any attempts to introduce competition into the market will be quashed by the Assembly through Carrión. Source: TeleGeography |
