A report by the Auditor General's Office (AGN, for its acronym in Spanish) states the National Communications Commission (NCC) did not sanction the violations that occurred in the various interconnection agreements subscribed by the dominant telecommunications companies and cooperatives that provide services on a regional level.

The rule governing the conventions, defines "interconnection" as physical and functional connection of the networks used by both parties (companies and associations), so that users can communicate with each other, or to access services from other providers. The conventions began in 2000 with the aim of allowing "real competition", that is, affordable and non-discriminatory terms, between large companies and smaller enterprises. 

The CNC is the controlling authority of the conventions and should intervene on the National Interconnection Regulations (RNI) defaults. But the Federal Watchdog report argues that the Commission did not initiate the process to punish the offenses provided in the RNI, even those of "serious misconduct". 

During its work, adopted this year on data from 2007-2008, the audit examined 35 claims made by the providers to the CNC by different defaults, and found that it was "in 81% of the sample (28 records) serious misconduct "as defined in the RNI. In these cases it was found that "the dominant companies made unilateral actions against independent operators without authorization from the supervisory authority (the Commission), yet only one of them was passed."

For example, the AGN highlighted one of those cases where the Commission did not act as it should. It is case 4204/02 and refers to the claim of several service providers by the unilateral decision of a cell phone company to start using prepaid cards for access to their service: "The conduct mentioned -says the audit- reflects a virtual disconnection of licensees and subscribers, as of the measure (for the company), must purchase prepaid cards "to communicate, adding that, "different cooperatives in the provinces were affected, such as: Cotelvo Limited, Colorado Limited, the Limited Chajá Margarita, Saldán Municipality, and others attached to the Communications Cooperative Federation (FECOTEL)" entities.

Against this background, the CNC "did not initiate the sanction process against the company (despite) having confirmed the broken connection paths after complaints by unions," completed the Audit. 

Moreover, the Federal Communications Commission did not trade controls on interconnection agreements as are set in the appropriate standards, nor did they created the field of prevention of anticompetitive practices.

Of the 35 claims pending analyzed by the AGN, it appears that the CNC "has not resolved the complaints" in 82.9% of the cases (29 cases). And, which itself was issued, "did not respect the stipulated time" by the National Registry of Networking, which was scheduled for five days. In fact, it was found that "in 100% (of the samples), the processing time exceeded 90 days." 

According to the RNI, to be registered, the agreements must be submitted to the Communications Commission within 10 days of its conclusion. After registration, there is a period of three days at the convention that the information must be published in the Official Gazette, a newspaper of national circulation and local newspaper. However, the audit said the CNC did not sanction licensees submitted after the deadline or agreements which were not published directly. "Failure is not a minor detail," remarks the AGN and adds: "It must be inferred that the agreements (which were unpublished) should not be considered approved or consented for the current procedure." 

In addition to the CNC as supervising authority, the RNI has enforcement authority: the Ministry of Communications (SECOM, for its acronym in Spanish), which also receive complaints for breach of rules. On this analysis, the Audit said the SECOM "does not resolve claims filed on interconnection," and that 100% of the cases analyzed, "have not issued a decision" even though the paperwork required their intervention.