On April 14, Ministerial Resolution No. 170-2024-MTC/01.03 was published in the Official Gazette El Peruano, which provides for the publication of the Draft Supreme Decree of the Regulations of Law No. 31809, in order to receive comments and suggestions for a period of 15 calendar days.
The purpose of Law No. 31809 is to reduce the digital gap in public telecommunications services, and therefore seeks to progressively implement the technological renewal of new generation networks in the public fixed and mobile broadband Internet service, to facilitate better connectivity in rural areas and areas of priority social interest.
In this sense, the approval of the Regulation of this Law seeks to provide the entities of the sector with a list of accurate, complete and updated information of the populated centers for the development of public telecommunication services, which will allow them to adequately develop their activities and functions.
Content of the Regulations:
1) Purpose:
The purpose of the Regulation is to:
2) Obligations:
The MTC, PRONATEL and OSIPTEL shall have accurate, complete and updated information on populated centers at the national level for the development of their functions.
The MTC will be in charge of approving the Official List of Populated Centers.
PRONATEL will identify rural areas and places of preferential social interest based on the Official List of Populated Centers.
Public telecommunications service concessionaires shall use the Official List of Populated Centers as a source for the fulfillment of their obligations. Likewise, its use will be supplementary to that agreed upon in contracts with the State.
The first Official List of Populated Centers for the implementation of public telecommunication services is published within a maximum term of twelve (12) months, counted as of the day following the installation of the Commission referred to in the following point. This list is subsequently updated.
3) Creation of the Commission and Technical Secretariat:
The Regulation creates the “Commission in charge of issuing technical reports and recommendations for the approval of the Official Listing of Populated Centers”, which will be of a permanent, multi-sectoral nature and under the MTC, in charge of issuing reports and recommendations for the approval or updating of the listing.
In addition, the Technical Secretariat of the Commission is created to provide it with technical and administrative support in the fulfillment of its functions.
The first presidency of the Commission will be held by the representative of PRONATEL.
4) Conditions for substituting the public use telephony service:
Upon expression of interest by the concessionaires, the MTC may agree to substitute the contractual obligations of the public use telephony service for obligations to provide and/or facilitate access to better public telecommunications services, only when the following conditions are met:
5) Characteristics that, as a minimum, the new obligations that replace the public use telephone service must have:
They must allow the reduction of the gap in access and use of public telecommunications services,
They must allow voice traffic and/or internet connection, and,
Their cost of implementation, operation and maintenance must be greater than or equal to the cost of operation and maintenance of the public use telephone.
6) Modification of Article 8 of the “General regulatory framework for the promotion of the development of public telecommunication services in rural areas and places of preferential social interest” approved by Supreme Decree N° 024-2008-MTC:
The Regulation modifies Article 8 of the referred norm, stating that the conditions that a populated center must comply with to be considered a rural area are:
It is worth mentioning that population centers with a teledensity of less than two fixed Internet lines per 100 inhabitants will be considered as rural areas without the need to comply with the aforementioned conditions.
7) Scope of the minimum guaranteed speed obligation for internet connections marketed as fixed or mobile broadband (articles 18, 19 and Third Final Complementary Provision):
Finally, the Regulation clarifies some aspects regarding the minimum guaranteed speed obligation for internet connections marketed as fixed or mobile broadband, established in Article 5 of Law No. 29904, Law for the Promotion of Broadband and Construction of the National Backbone Fiber Optic Network.
Firstly, it states that this obligation is only applicable to Internet access connections marketed as fixed or mobile broadband connections. Secondly, it indicates that the MTC is responsible for approving and updating annually, by means of a ministerial resolution, the necessary parameters to specify the scope of this obligation. This resolution must be published in its digital headquarters and in the official newspaper El Peruano within a maximum period of 3 months, counted from the day after the publication of the Regulation.
For further information, please contact María del Rosario Quiroga (rquiroga@estudiorodrigo.com), Andrea Morelli (amorelli@estudiorodrigo.com) and/or Luis Fernando Roca (lroca@estudiorodrigo.com).
