Intelig?s executives are aware they won?t be able to begin negotiating interconnect rates until Anatel awards a local license. However, they promise to lodge an unfair-trading complaint with Anatel if the LECs turn out to have agreed long-distance rates among themselves before receiving the appropriate licenses. Embratel takes the same line, according to its vice president for local services, Purificación Carpinteyro. A major difference in the timing of negotiations on interconnect rates and new service launches will be taken as a sign of unfair practice, says Alain Rivière, Intelig?s director for regulatory affairs. In other words, if the LECs launch long-distance services long before Embratel and Intelig offer local services, this could be construed as evidence that the LECs negotiated agreements without waiting for the respective licenses to be issued.
Interconnetion
