The incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) have begun negotiations with the Government on this year?s tariff reset for public fixed-line telephone services.
At a meeting with senior executives of the three ILECs in Brasília on Tuesday, June 10, Communications Minister Miro Teixeira and Finance Minister Antonio Palocci agreed to set up a technical working group to discuss the amount of the increase scheduled to come into force at the end of this month.
They said the working group would comprise representatives of Anatel and the communications, finance and justice ministries as well as the ILECs. They hoped to reach an agreement in three days.
If they did apply the index, they would raise tariffs by an average of 28.75%. Monthly subscription charges would rise almost 42%. Rates for local phone calls would rise more than 35%.
Communications Minister Miro Teixeira said the ILECs have undertaken to announce the increases as soon as the negotiations are over. The Government won?t make the announcement, he said, because it has no interest in ?exploiting the political capital of this piece of bad news?.
Observers said the real intention is to make the telcos shoulder the burden of an unpopular announcement or else agree to a much lower increase. As Mr Teixeira noted, there?s nothing to stop the ILECs from applying the full IGP-DI index, since this right is written into their license contracts.
The outcome of the negotiations will be announced early next week. The working group will continue to negotiate through the weekend if necessary, Miro Teixeira said.
