ICE Unions File Appeal

Eight unions of workers for ICE, the incumbent cell phone provider, have filed an appeal with the Supreme Court's business dispute chamber over the rates charged for cell phone interconnection.

The suit is versus ARESEP, the rate control agency for public utilities, and SUTEL, the cell phone regulatory agency. The unions claim that the rates approved by the agencies constitute unfair competition.

The suit is based on one originally filed by ICE's administration itself but withdrawn days later when SUTEL promised to create mechanisms that would be financially sustainable. The unions charge that SUTEL failed to honor its promise.

They say that the failure of the regulatory agencies to take the studies into the question and rates remain far lower than the market and ICE operating costs.

Interconnection rates are those charged by ICE so the private companies can connect with its established cell phone network. For many years, ICE held a monopoly on the cell phone market.