OUR pushing for more telecoms disclosure
Published:Friday | November 12, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Mark Titus, Business Reporter
The local utilities watchdog is preparing to use the big stick of statutory regulations to demand a wide range of disclosure demands on the burgeoning telecommunications that could have the effect of drastically shaking up the way telecoms providers now do business, which in recent years has been characterised by repeated accusations and litigation.
The telecoms have until today to respond to an Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR)-created document, 'Quality of Service Standards and Guidelines for the Telecommunications Sector', which the regulator maintains is a consultative paper.
It contains proposals designed to give the OUR more power to deal with the issues affecting the sector and is a precursor to the drawing up of a definitive standard for the telecoms trade.
Deputy director general of the OUR, Maurice Charvis, said the publication of quality and price information was among the disclosure demands being placed on the firms.
"One needs to know the size of the network, the quality of service and their prices, so that one can make a reasonable choice; and while the FTC (Fair Trading Commission) can come in if (firms) behave anticompetitively, we should be able to put in rules to prevent the dominant carriersfrom behaving anticompetitively," he said in an August interview.
This goes to the heart of pitched legal battles which have been fought by the top two telecommunications rivals, Digicel, the market leader, and LIME, the one-time monopoly telephone service provider.
Tight-lipped
Not surprisingly, representatives of all major providers are being tight-lipped on the 89-page document - said to have been prepared following consultations with various industry players, and which focuses on the big four, Digicel, LIME, Claro and Flow.
The proposals cover fixed and mobile telephony, as well as Internet access.
Digicel Jamaica officials said they were reviewing the document and would be providing the regulatory watchdog with its comments.
"However, in general, Digicel believes that in a competitive market such as telecommuni-cations, quality of service is not a matter which requires prescriptive regulation," Richard Fraser, head of legal and regulatory affairs for Digicel Jamaica, told the Financial Gleaner.
"Competition provides ample incentives to all operators in relation to maintaining and improving quality of service standards," he said, betraying the firm's opposition to the proposals.
Digicel is now the subject of an investigation by the FTC into allegations by LIME that the classification of the Irish-owned firm's new wireless broadband as 4G technology is misleading.
LIME officials, too, would not be drawn into giving extensive comments on the OUR proposals.
"LIME is committed to pro-moting good customer service; as such, we are carefully reviewing the OUR's proposals to ensure that that they are reasonable (and) LIME will reserve its further comments until its review is complete," said Corporate Communications Manager Camille Taylor.
Claro Jamaica representatives said a response was being prepared by company lawyers, while no response was forthcoming from Flow Jamaica.
The OUR expects to make a final determination on the new rules by January.
The document notes that the proposals are based on concerns raised by consumers of telecoms services in surveys.
The surveys are said to have found that there is little to suggest that consumers are greatly worried about the quality of fixed telephony.
For fixed lines, the recurring concerns were about equipment installation and maintenance, as well as excessive delays in, and missed appointments for, installing connections and repairing faults.
Consumers are said to have also raised concerns about bills and disconnection issues, including adjust-ments to bills for currency fluctuations, inconsistent dates of preparing bills and due dates, unexpected expiration of call credit, and higher-than-expected charges for calls.
While the quality of communications - as opposed to equipment installation and maintenance - seemed satisfactory for fixed telephony, this is not so where mobile phone service is concerned, the OUR has reported.
Unsatisfactory
The survey found, it said, that service accessibility and continuity are unsatisfactory in various areas of the country, with drive-around tests said to be showing that, overall, about 13 per cent of calls between mobile telephones failed.
The OUR proposal is for mobile telephony providers to report when network signals are usefully accessible, the proportion of national calls connecting success-fully when network signals are usefully accessible, the proportion of national calls staying up until ended normally by users, among other demands.
The telecoms regulator is also recommending that telecommunications service providers ensure that advertisements mentioning prices contain all relevant information, that advertisements for Internet access mentioning speeds contain access speeds measured according to the OUR quality of service standards, and that advertisements for premium-rate calls and messages mentioning prices contain examples of prices.