The president of the State regulator of Peru’s telecommunications sector, Osiptel, said Tuesday that his agency is working on a project that would regulate the rates of telephone calls from landlines to mobile phones in order to decrease the current costs.
“There is a problem with telephone calls from landlines to mobile phones which worries us and that’s why we are looking at regulatory measures,” state news agency Andina reported Osiptel president, Guillermo Thornberry, as saying. “If a person calls from a landline to a mobile phone, the cost is extremely high, which doesn’t make any sense.”
Thornberry told Andina that Peru’s government had initially allowed telecommunications companies to charge high rates in order to increase communications coverage and encourage private investment in mobile phones.
Thornberry says one of the regulatory changes would allow landline telephone operators, rather than mobile phone companies, to regulate the costs of calling between landlines and cellular phones.
Osiptel also announced a plan to implement bilateral agreements with Brazil and Ecuador to decrease the cost of telephone calls between Peru’s northern towns with nearby communities across the border. Residents in Peru’s border towns are currently charged long distance rates, regardless of the physical distance, when calling communities across the border.
“In the multiple conversations that we’ve had with the Brazilian government, the topic of international roaming in the border areas of both countries has been discussed,” said Thornberry. “As well as how to create a virtual area so the calls have local costs.”
