The government yesterday announced that it would present Congress with a new bill to regulate the country’s telecommunications sector, in order to encourage competition and enforce minimum service requirements.
The bill, called Argentina Digital, will replace the existing 1972 law and is designed to guarantee quality and reflect new technologies, said government officials presenting the bill.
Several government minister presenting the ‘Argentina Digital’ bill to regulate the telecommunications sector (Photo: Paula Ribas/Télam)
“The new law will replace the 1972 one. When that was approved, there was no internet, or mobile phones, or fiber optics,” said Cabinet Chief Jorge Capitanich. “Argentina has a large territory with a wide geographical distribution of people, and if there are only private companies are involved without any state regulation there will be places that receive a bad service.”
The bill declares the access to and use of telecoms networks in the sector as a public service, meaning the state can fix tariffs in the wholesale market in order to favour cooperatives and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) who provide telephone and internet services. It will also establish minimum standards for speed and quality that must be provided across the entire country.
“The objective of the law is to ensure equal access to information and communication services for all people and at the highest standards,” added Planning Minister Julio de Vido.
The bill also allows telephone companies to enter the cable television market by exempting them from the explicit restrictions in the 2009 Media Law that prevented them from doing so.
This provision, which was originally included in the Media Law but later removed due to objections from members of Congress, has sparked criticism from some who say it is aimed at weakening the market position of cable TV provider Cablevisión, owned by Grupo Clarín.
“The government bill is designed so that the telephone companies take over everything,” said the Argentina Association for Cable Television (ATVC) in a press statement. “The bill hands all the advantage to telecommunications companies Telefónica and Telecom.”
Government officials presenting the bill stressed that the bill was aimed at encouraging greater competition and efficiency, saying it would not interfere with the media law or provide the state with any new powers to regulate the content aired on television.
2015 Budget and Hydrocarbons Law
In the early hours of this morning, the Argentine Senate approved the 2015 budget while the House of Representatives sanctioned a new Hydrocarbons Law, both amid fierce criticisms from the opposition.
The budget, which forecasts growth of 2.8%, inflation at 15.6%, and an official dollar rate of $9.45 next year, was criticised as being based on “fictitious” parameters by opposition senators. Ruling Frente para la Victoria (FpV) senators, however, said the budget reflected difficult external conditions, including a slowdown in Brazil, and praised the planned 25% increase in social spending next year.
Meanwhile, the Hydrocarbons Law, designed to attract new investment to the energy sector, was approved by a narrow majority in the lower house. The law provides long-term concessions and tax incentives for energy companies that invest more than US$250m in developing oil and gas fields, with additional benefits for those that exploit non-conventional deposits through fracking.
The opposition, which voted universally against the bill, protested the capping of royalties for provinces in which oil and gas fields are located at 12%. “We are voting against this law because it offers extraordinary concessions to multinational oil companies just to try and boost international reserves by US$1-2bn next year,” said Federico Pinedo of the opposition PRO party.
Leftist parties also condemned the bill, saying it offered insufficient environmental safeguards and would provide “immunity” for oil companies that damage the local environment with their drilling operations.
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