Telecom
Providers and the regional Ministers responsible for Telecommunications in the
various Caribbean Territories just can’t see eye-to-eye.
So
it appears the divisions between these the Ministers responsible for
Telecommunications in the various Caribbean Territories and the Telecom
Providers became glaringly obvious during roundtable talks at the 30th Annual Conference
of CANTO that began on Monday August 11th 2014 in Nassau, Bahamas as
reported in “Region's
telecoms providers, ministers fail to agree on VOIP issue”, published
Thursday, August 14, 2014, the
Jamaica Observer.
According
to the Telecom experts the Telecom Providers were losing as much as US$500
million per annum per Caribbean Country. Since each Caribbean Territory most
likely has a Telecom Tax in place, that translates to US$150 million per annum
per Caribbean Country in lost Taxes.
Here
in Jamaica, I'm putting that estimate at around US$1 billion, as that estimate
by Telecom Provider Digicel
doesn’t account for the losses due to persons using femtocells illegally
terminating calls from the US of A as if they were in Jamaica as noted in my blog article
entitled “How
US$1 Billion is lost from the USF and Telecoms Tax via Inbound International
Calling Bypass - LIME, Digicel and
Network Engineer French Connection”.
Government vs Telecom
Providers – VoIP robs Telecoms but Minister concerned about winning elections
Digicel Group Board Director, Patrick
James Mara pointed out what that amount of lost revenue could do for many of
these Caribbean Territories in terms of Taxes, quote: “You build a lot of
schools, hospitals, health services and provide all kinds of social services
for your communities for $150 million. These operators are making no
contribution to your communities, to your Government, to your tax requirements
in your communities. The problem not just for Caricom (Caribbean Community)
countries, it is a problem for a problem across the world”.
Strangely
enough, despite the losses quoted, Ministers responsible for Telecommunications
are siding with their own people, possibly because Elections every five years
puts whoever is in power to the sword due to their inability to talk to
relatives abroad to get their remittance money according to St Lucia's Science
and Technology, Information and Broadcasting Minister Dr James Fletcher,
quote: “That (cheap/free frequent calls)
is what they are used to. So, to tell them that they cannot use Skype, they
cannot use Vonage, they cannot use MagicJack and not provide them with an
alternative is really asking a Government, which is made up of politicians, who
every five years have to face an electorate for re- election, to commit
suicide. It does not make any sense”.
Strange
to see the Telecom Ministers argue about winning elections when in Haiti,
Telecom Taxes being collected by the Haitian Government, led by Prime Minister
Laurent Lamothe are possibly being siphoned off just for that purpose as noted
in my blog
article entitled “Digicel
Haiti removes VoIP Apps Blockade – How Laurent Lamothe Administrations Corrupt
Telecom Tax for FNE has French Connection”.
In
the case of Haiti, Telecom Provider Digicel
had decided to stop collecting the Telecom Tax for the Haitian Government and
allow the VoIP Operators to work as the US$8.5 million collected over a period
of three (3) years appears to not be going to the FNE (National Fund for
Education), it's intended recipient but appears to be funding the Presidential
bid of Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe.
The
Telecoms Tax was instituted illegally without legislation being drafted in
their Parliament and worse, isn't being collected by the Central Bank but by
CONATEL, the Haitian Government's Regulatory Commission for Telecommunications.
Governments argue
Network Neutrality – All Traffic is Data but not All Traffic isn’t equal
One
of the main pillars of the arguments posted by the Ministers responsible for
Telecommunications is this idea of Network Neutrality. This concept basically
treats all Traffic on a Telecom Network as being equal, with no discrimination
against any Traffic no matter its source. So says Dominica's telecommunications
minister Ambrose George was apparently of this view, which he expressed during
the Round Table Talks, quote: “Internet Traffic is simply data, whether it is
telephony, e-fax, text, audio, etc. Hence, there should not be any form of
discrimination of data based on its origin or type or nature”.
But
albeit this is a nice concept in Principle, it does have a flaw. If all Traffic
is treated as equal and in a non-discriminatory manner, that means an illegal
provider of a Service that's normally metered and for which there is a charge
can use a Telecom Providers Data Service to do everything from run a legitimate
registered business to even commit Crimes over the Internet.
My
personal view is that these activities are illegal as they are against the
Telecoms Regulations of these countries as it relates to Bypass, which is
circumventing Switched Networks to terminate International phone calls. Thus
this principle of Network Neutrality is flawed; all Traffic is equal but the
legal Traffic is more equal than the others.
Telecoms Providers vs
VoIP – Economic and Legal imperative to Report and Block VoIP as they are
bypass
Thus
as their access is illegal, it cannot be the case that Network Neutrality rules
apply, as the Government of these Caribbean Territories are in effect condoning
illegal activity that's clearly again their Telecoms act and possibly breaking
the law as argued in my Geezam blog
article entitled “How
Network Neutrality and International Calling can thrive as TATT mediates VoIP
Blockade by Digicel and LIME”.
The
only beneficiaries are the VoIP operators and the VC (Venture Capitalists that
fund them. Digicel Group Board
Director, Patrick James Mara voiced this opinion, quote: “These are parasite -- these operators. They
are not genuine operators like Twitter or Facebook, who have invested
significant funds. These people are thieves. There isn't any milder way to put
it. ...These people make no contribution to your societies and it has to stop.
So, I am asking you now regulators to address this issue with the various
operators”.
Quite
true as these VoIP operators such as Skype and Nimbuzz have no formal business
contracts with Telecom Provider Digicel.
They usually make money from Paid VoIP Subscriptions, advertising and even
stickers as is the case with Japanese VoIP operator Line as explained in my blog article
entitled “Japanese
Line introduces Line Call for Landline and Mobile - US$0.02 per Call and Kawaii
Stickers a plus as WhatsApp and Skype get company in making International
Calling and Roaming Extinct”.
Despite
collecting revenue, they do not pay any Termination Tariffs for each of the
calls that flow over their Networks through Telecom Providers 3G and 4G Mobile
Networks, with the bulk of their profits flowing back to their VoIP Operators
and the VC’s that fund them.
Worse,
the Telecom Provider become accomplices to this fact and may indeed be helping
criminals, such as Scammers, to break the law as pointed out in my blog article
entitled “How
Scammers and Hackers are on the Rebound Laundering Money - Minister of National
Security Peter Bunting misguided on Scammers”.
Thus
aside from the economic imperative of making profit from International Calling
so that they can pay the Government of these Caribbean Territories their
Telecoms Tax, the Telecom Provider have a legal imperative to act. This as by
NOT acting, they're complicit in an illegally activity and not reporting it,
despite the Telecoms Regulation that governs their operation clearly stating
that it is so!
Hence
their blockade is legal!
Solution to VoIP – Pay
up or the Caribbean VoIP Operators needed to fill that Gap
The
solution is obviously clear as the title above and as argued in my blog article
entitled “LIME
and Digicel blocking all VoIP Services - How Telecom Providers can make money
from Regularizing Paid VoIP Services”.
VoIP
operators need to formalize their relationships with the Caribbean Government
and have contractual arrangements with the Telecom Providers in the Caribbean
to quote Digicel Executive and
CANTO director Julian Wilkins: “From Digicel's
position, where Telecom Providers are competing in the same market, we would
like the same rules and legislation must be applied on order to keep a level
playing field”.
Otherwise
the Telecom Providers have the law on their side and can continue to block them
until the Telecom Regulators such as the OUR (Office of Utilities Regulation)
in Jamaica, for example, say otherwise.
A
solution to the impasse in Jamaica does exist and may be the most innovative
yet, albeit the Telecom Providers may not like it, as it means competition. The
Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining can give VC (Venture
Capital) funding for Jamaican Developers to create their OWN VoIP Platforms
powered by Digicel Cloud Services
or even Columbus Communications Cloud Platform.
This
idea was argued by St Lucia's Science and Technology, Information and
Broadcasting Minister Dr James Fletcher, quote: “Unfortunately, VOIP has done
the same thing for the Service providers. There is a demand there that is not
being met. And, like my colleague from Jamaica, I would be a lot happier if it
were a Caribbean VOIP solution. But the solution cannot be to get rid of VOIP,
because there is a very significant demand that these people are providing”.
In
so doing, such local VoIP operators would not only have to be regulated, but
would also make revenue from Jamaicans having a choice between free and Paid
VoIP Service, with the Free Service being paid for by users opting in to having
advertising in their App as well as receiving Voice Note Ads and buying
stickers.
They
in effect, would not only be making money from offering the same Free VoIP and
Video Calling services offered by Viber and Nimbuzz, but like those foreign
VoIP Platforms, they’d also be making money from Paid Professional VoIP
Services.
Effectively
their Local VoIP Apps, if they become popular enough, would be providing something
close to a Corporate and Enterprise grade Service as I’d challenged in my blog article
entitled “How
BYOD trend in Jamaica will require Local Jamaican Developers to develope
Enterprise and Corporate Apps”.
This
solution would make VoIP free to Jamaicans while generating termination Tariffs
when they interconnect through Telecom Provider Digicel or Telecom Provider LIME.
Thus the Telecom Provider, via these local VoIP who’d effectively be MVNO’s
(Mobile Virtual Network Operators), would help them to continue to generate
revenues from International Calling in a manner similar to the arrangement they
had with Megafone back in 2007.
Local
VoIP Services Providers anyone? After all, we have Video Game makers and App
makers of all types, but no local or even Caribbean VoIP Solutions. This is a
problem begging to be solved locally.
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