ARTICLE - TELECOMMUNICATIONS BATTLE

ACCESS HAITI DIRECTO DESCRIBES BATTLE OVER TELECOMMUNICATIONS SECTOR
(Defend Haiti) - By Roberson Alphonse

PORT-AU-PRINCE - The Executive Director of AccesHaiti SA, Allen C. Bayard cast a harsh light on the telecommunications sector that is now undergoing profound changes due to the arrival of Natcom; interconnection problems and the migration to more advanced technologies.

All operators have known for some time that the practice of bypassing, perhaps using the internet to make calls, would end with the imposition of the government international telecommunication tariff making calls 23 cents per minute.

"This eliminates any competition, as we are supposed to be an open country," lamented Allen C. Mayard, who remembered the days of 15, 17 or 18 cents per minute international phone calls.

"Operators, with the exception of Digicel, protested against the President, Michel Joseph Martelly, who decided to charge 5 cents for each minute of call from abroad to finance the National Fund for Education," said Mr. Bayard, to whom he feels the project to educate the children of Haiti is commendable.

The tariff protects Digicel, the dominant operator, at the expense of Natcom and other operators, said the executive director of SA AccesHaiti.

"Today, Digicel is the dominant player and refuses interconnection with Natcom, AccesHaiti SA and other operators; while the law requires interconnection," continued Bayard, recalling that Digicel was facing the same problem when it first arrived on the market.

"This is a problem that the state must solve," he said calling for standards to regulate the telecom market and more professionalism in the fight against bypassing . It is necessary that the unit formed to fight against bypassing, stop those involved in this reprehensible activity that deprives the Haitian government of resources and causes loss of profit for the operators," he says, "...do not get the wrong target."

The Executive Director of AccesHaiti SA made a scathing denouncing of the imprisonment of four of its employees who were arrested on August 8 when they were going to proceed with the repair of an internet connection for a client on Delmas 75.

"The arrest is illegal," he said in an interview with the newspaper at his office on Wednesday, August 24.

"AccesHaiti SA," said Allen C. Bayard, "can not be responsible for the acts of piracy in which a client is engaged."

"How do my employees be held accountable for the actions of a client within the walls of his house where the police and the justice of Delmas found equipment to commit bypassing?" queried Mr. Bayard, perplexed in the face of "the escalation of the charges against his employees, without any evidence."

The justice of Delmas had put the reason for the arrest as "phone fraud".

It was only on Thursday August 11 and Friday August 12, during a second interrogation by a second magistrate in the presence of the Government Commissioner Jean-François Sonel, which accused the employees of AccessHaiti, of conspiracy and fraud, to the detriment of Digicel and COMCEL on the basis of a complaint filed by Digicel on Wednesday, August 10, 2011, two days after the arrest of four employees, were made.

AccesHaiti continues its protest against the continued detention and dissemination of "assembled film" showing "overwhelming and clearly the trial judge against a dishonest employee, while he was tasked to make a finding of facts and not to judge, "said Bayard, looking annoyed. "AccesHaiti SA is like all companies; such as Internet service Haïnet, Multilink, ACN; and as Natcom, many of them were also victims of piracy of their networks, "he said, noting .... " no internet service providor can be held liable for hacked voice traffic ".

"AccesHaiti SA is for the fight against bypassing" said C. Allen Bayard, who has proven to be a member of a committee set up by the CONATEL fight against telephone fraud. AccesHaiti SA calls for the release in the shortest period of its employees imprisoned in the National Penitentiary, said Allen C. Bayard, who found that the file was forwarded to the office of education.