Peru: Regulatory Update
 
The Entity of Supervision for Private Investment in Telecommunications (Organismo Supervisor de Inversión Privada en Telecomunicaciones, OSIPTEL) is the regulatory agency of the telecommunications sector in Peru, whereas the Ministry of Transports and Communications (MTC) is in charge of telecommunications policy, licensing, and spectrum administration.  Another agency engaged in the telecom sector is Pro-Inversion. Pro-Inversion is primarily in charge of the auction process of concessions and spectrum for the telecom sector in Peru.  However, Pro-Inversion is not exclusively established for the telecom industry, as it is also responsible for national and foreign investments in other Peruvian sectors.
    
In the last semester for 2006, the regulatory entities OSIPTEL and the MTC focused their agenda on three main developments: number portability, regulations of prepaid expiration dates, and the adjustment of tariffs for fixed telephony. 

Number Portability

• In November 2004, the Commission of Number Portability (Comision de Portabilidad Numerica), formed by members of the MTC and OSIPTEL, published the “Implementation of Number Portability” document.  In this document, the commission proposes steps for the implementation of number portability, as well as the need to hire a consulting company to analyze the best technical alternative for the system. Currently, this commission is analyzing a preliminary study on number portability in order to elaborate an initial proposal.  After a second round of public consultation in 1Q07, the Commission will publish a final proposal. This process is expected last until 1H07, with number portability being implemented at the end of 2007. 

Licenses and Spectrum

• In terms of upcoming events, Peru’s fifth mobile license, which encompasses spectrum in the 1.8GHz band, will be awarded in 2007.  The MTC and Pro-Inversion have initiated the auction of the fifth mobile license, aiming to boost competition by increasing the number of competitors in the mobile market.  The prequalified operators are Nextel and Millicom.   

• On the fixed front, in April 2006, Pro-Inversion awarded Telmex Peru with a license for fixed wireless access (FWA) service in the 3.4 and 3.6GHZz spectrum bands in Lima and Callao.  Other prequalified candidates were Impsat, Nextel, and Telmex. The acquisition of this license will improve Telmex’s position in Peru and allow the operator to go after the broadband market by opening up the alternative to deploy WiMAX technology. 

Prepaid Cards’ New Regulation

• Currently, OSIPTEL is revising the final changes to the conditions of use for public telecommunications services.  The proposal includes the extension of expiration dates for prepaid cards used in fixed telephony from 15 days to 30 days and for prepaid cards used for mobile services from 180 days to 210 days.

VoIP Regulation

• There have been no new developments in Peru regarding VoIP. At present, VoIP is allowed to operate freely without price regulation under the premise that VoIP is a value-added service over which regulator OSIPTEL has no regulatory control. Public telephony centers can offer Internet and telephony. Along these centers VoIP services have flourished. VoIP services are allowed to operate as long as they do not interconnect with the PSTN directly via media gateways (which means VoIP calls can only originate and terminate in public centers).