Deputy Jorge Bittar (PT, Rio de Janeiro) acknowledged Monday, March 31, that Communications Minister Miro Teixeira may have ?used excessively strong language? in criticizing Anatel and demanding more power for his own ministry. It?s up to the ministry to ?clarify these issues? so as to avoid creating uncertainty in the telecommunications industry, he said. Some telcos may have overreacted to or even misunderstood Mr Teixeira?s remarks; the Government has no intention of making Anatel toothless, he stressed. ?No one wants to do away with Anatel or any other regulator. On the contrary, the idea is to give them the resources they need and ensure they perform the role for which they were created, which is to take care of the regulatory framework while the respective ministries will be responsible for public policies and planning,? he said. According to Dep. Bittar, Anatel hasn?t moved fast enough on important issues such as GSM versus CDMA, free Internet access, interconnection rates and unbundling. The agency needs strengthening in this area.
Transparency
Dep. Bittar said he sees no reason why the Communications Ministry shouldn?t demand more transparency from Anatel, given what he called ?obscure areas? of the agency?s work that need to be made clearer. The ministry should also be more transparent, he added, especially in the area of broadcast licensing, which he called a ?huge black box?.
Policy
