After a resolution was issued for the reorganization of the 700 MHz band, Telecomunicaciones de Guatemala S.A. and the Human Rights Ombudsman's Office submitted appeals for revocation to the Superintendence of Telecommunications.
The controversy originated after Comunicaciones Celulares S.A.
The Superintendence of Telecommunications prepares the procedure to start issuing sanctions of up to $25,800 from February 2020, to businesses that do not have a registry of mobile terminal equipment and SIM cards.
The regulations have been in force for years, as on October 9, 2013, Decree 8-2013, the Mobile Terminal Equipment Law, came into force, which mandates the creation of the Registry of Mobile Terminal Equipment and SIM Cards Dealers, both under the responsibility of the Superintendence of Telecommunications (SIT).
On November 14, the Superintendence of Telecommunications of Guatemala will auction a short number, which is used by commercial entities to provide advertising services, information, assistance and services.
So far, 56 four-digit telephone numbers have been auctioned in the country and the next one to be made available to companies will be 1710, which may be used as a routing mask to an eight-digit number.
After the number of users in operation in Guatemala grew 9% between 2016 and 2017, during the period between 2017 and 2018, the increase was only 2%.
According to the statistical bulletin of the Second Semester - 2018, prepared by the Telephony Regulation Management of the Superintendence of Telecommunications (SIT), between 2017 and 2018 the number of users in the country increased by 481,038, going from 19.9 million to 20.4 million.
In Guatemala, at the end of the first half of the year, customers with postpaid plans from telephony operators increased 12% compared to those reported at the end of 2017.
According to statistics from the Superintendence of Telecommunications (SIT), the increase in the number of postpaid plans registered during the first six months of the year is mainly because of the increase in customers reported by the operator Claro, since between December 2017 and June 2018 increased from 329 thousand to 490 thousand.
Between 2016 and 2017, the country registered a 9% increase in the number of lines in operation, rising from 18.2 million to 19.9 million.
According to figures from the Superintendency of Telecommunications (SIT), the number of prepaid mobile phone lines also registered an increase of 9%, rising from 17.2 million in 2016 to 18.8 million at the end of 2017.
Unlike Costa Rica, El Salvador and Panama, Guatemalan authorities did not sign the agreement that seeks to eliminate additional fees that are charged for roaming services.
The Superintendency of Telecommunications took part in the Assembly of the Inter-American Telecommunications Commission (Citel) which was held in Buenos Aires, but the Guatemalan institution has not yet given the reasons why it did not sign the agreement in favor of eliminating charges for roamingservices.
The legal obstacles that are preventing the Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones of Guatemala from tendering the AWS frequency may not be solved in the short term.
The Telecommunications Authority has announced that by June it plans to issue tenders for a part of the radio spectrum, specifically for private communication frequencies and UHF links. But the most anticipated auction for the three local operators, the AWS frequency, still hasn't made any progress since 2015 due to the 16 appeals processes that have not yet been resolved.
Although a date for the changeover has not yet been set, the Telecommunications Authority has presented a preliminary project to define the transition to digital TV.
Harold Cancinos, operations manager at the SIT, told Elperiodico.com.gt that"...
In response to approval of a new tax of $0.65 per telephone line, operating companies have returned 6 million lines to the Telecommunications Superintendency.
Representatives from Claro, Tigo and Telefónica each returned 2 million inactive numbers with the aim of adjusting their internal policies to adapt to the new tax which will come into effect next year. The chief of the Tax Collection Authority, Omar Franco, assured Elperiodico.com.gt that "... Companies will have to make the necessary adjustments in order to estimate how much income will be as a result of the new tax. We did not know that this tax would end up being approved in the 2015 Budget. Congress considered and approved a levy based on the 23 million lines assigned, now that this figure has been reduced it will have to be re-estimated. "
In Guatemala and proposals arising from the recently passed amendment to the Communications Act, which extended radio concessions for 20 years.
In light of the act coming into effect, deputies in the Transparency Commission are preparing a bill relating to the issue of transparency, Deputy Carlos Barreda, a member of the panel, said "We must establish that the usufruct be delivered through an auction or implement a public payment for its renewal. "
The extension for another 20 years, without any fees, of the concessions for radio frequencies, will deprive the Guatemalan State of millions in income, and removes market transparency.
While in other countries concessions for the use of radio frequencies provide state coffers with many millions of dollars, in Guatemala, Congress has passed legislation extending licenses that are currently in effect for another 20 years, without any costs to the concessionaries, who in addition at the end of the period of usufruct, may renew them again.
Of the total numbers assigned, 26 million, 22.7 million are mobiles and only 3.3 million landlines.
At the end of the first half of 2011 there were 20.2 million registered numbers. Up until the end of August 2012, the Superintendency of Telecommunications (SIT) had delivered 26.03 million, 5.83 million in just over a year.
From 3.1 million lines in 2004, mobile telephony in Guatemala has increased sevenfold, amounting to to 20.7 million lines at the end of 2011.
In the second half of 2011, more than two million new users were added to the market, making the number of users around the country at the end of December 2011 20.7 million, according to the Superintendencia de Telecomunicaciones (SIT).
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