Among the functions of the National Communications Commission (CNC, for its acronym in Spanish) is to ensure the compliance of the quality of performance of licensees communication services. However, a report from the General Audit Office (AGN, for its acronym in Spanish), adopted this year, said that the CNC only has three officers to monitor the performance of cellphone companies.

The CNC was created by decree in 1996 and its mission is the control, inspection, verification and administrative and technical regulation of everything related to telecommunications and postal services. Currently, under the Ministry of Communications of the Presidency of the Federal Government and has several offices throughout the interior.

The audited body has a sector called Telephone Control Technical Police, whose main function is to audit compliance with the quality of service that the licensees provide in their annual work plans. Based on that, it prepares an inspection plan, also annual.

As noted by the auditors, the CNC not only has only three employees to monitor the quality of service provided by cellphone companies, but its rules presents a huge gap in relation to technological advances associated with cellular service.

The Commission recognized the need to implement new strategies to technological advancement and argued that therefore it created a Study Group that introduced changes to the Quality of Service Regulation. Beyond what was said by the CNC, the Audit insisted that the entity has a Quality of Service Regulation establishing "minimum quality thresholds and does not provide mechanisms to enable regular and quick updating of technological progress". In fact, the regulation was adopted over ten years ago and an observation had already been made by the AGN in a report adopted in 2006.

In addition, the audit recommended to the Police Area Telephone Control not to perform technical reports "covering large geographic areas" because they make "time solution" of the detected anomalies difficult.

Customer Care Center

The User Support Center (CAU, for its acronym in Spanish) has the function of mediating conflicts of interest between customers and telecommunications companies, developing standards involving consumer protection. The AGN remarked that the area "acts in a second instance, once the complaint is made to the company providing the service."

Although the CNC must preserve the interests of consumers of the cellphone service on companies, the auditors detected based body queel resolution of complaints in the information and inspections carried out by the providers themselves, without performing its own measurements.

Moreover, once the Commission orders companies to regularize the situation claims made by users, it does not perform monitoring tasks that "will allow them to analyze the application of a sanction or recidivism.”A resolution of the CNC was not published in the Official Gazette, it’s the 1180 of 2002, which delegates to the CAU and Provincial Offices, the "authority to resolve administrative proceeding claims users presented to these units," says the audit, adding that this situation "dulls to anyone who wants to exercise their legitimate right of defense," because being not published this standard has no advertising "so it is not known who is responsible for solving the formalities officer in which intervenes Commission as a Watchdog."

Finally, the AGN observed that the CNC does not sanction the violation of Article 9 of Regulation of Mobile Communication Services, which refers to the right of customers to be treated with courtesy by the provider, correction and speed. In 14% of the cases analyzed, users admitted "being mistreated, without being reflected in the actions of sanctions."