Comunicacion Celular SA, Colombia’s second-biggest cellular phone company,
reportedly has agreed to halt advertising for its cut-price international
Internet calls as the government opened an inquiry into the service, according
to published reports.
As three government agencies opened inquiries, the municipally owned Empresa
de Telecomunicaciones de Bogota and the state-owned long-distance company
Telecom, both minority shareholders in Comcel, called a Christmas Day meeting
to demand that the company respect their right to have a say in its decisions,
Bloomberg News quoted the El Tiempo
newspaper in Bogota as saying.
The government has the power to strip Comcel, controlled by Montreal-based
Bell Canada International, of its license if it finds the company has acted
illegally by offering Internet-routed calls, the newspaper said.
Last week, Comcel began advertising that it was offering Internet calls
anywhere in the world at any hour at a rate of 770 pesos ($0.51) a minute,
about half the rate of the three regular providers.