The telecom ombudsman

As we rapidly approach the next millennium, there is no doubt that the Internet world with all its communication, information and commerce facets, will most surely evolve into one of the most important elements in the development of any country. The way we can take advantage of it will depend on how it is commercially regulated.

In Venezuela we are at a crossroads. Either we allow access to the Internet to be the main business, to the benefit of the telecommunication companies and the national government who ultimately issues the corresponding concessions, or we allow the users, our children and future entrepreneurs to capitalize on the opportunities by way of free and cheap access.

Recent efforts at privatization seem to not have favored the end users of the services. 

CANTV was sold on the basis that it generated high income for the Nation and expectations of high returns for the investors. Evidently, the only outcome of this equation are high tariffs. Likewise, Margarita knows more than well that the price to be paid for success in the sale of its power sector is just that, high tariffs.

The State, due to conflicts of interests, frequently cannot adequately manage its role as representative or defender of the public’s rights, as in this case, those of the end users. It is precisely because of this that all around the world, the figure of the Ombudsman becomes important. 

The Ombudsman is an independent, capable and responsible person. Adequately provided with the resources necessary to fulfill his role, he dedicates his time to the users interest.

One prime example of this is the TIO in Australia. Its initials come from the words Telecommunications, Industry and Ombudsman and it is an independent entity established in 1993 to help solve disputes between the telecommunications companies and the small users both residential and commercial. As of 1997 it has also been entrusted the processing of complaints about Internet services.

TIO’s service is free, but it only intervenes after the user has initially tried to solve its disputes directly with the purveyor of the service. It’s authority includes the investigation of matters relative to billing, service cuts, mobile service, access to the Internet, privacy, operator and directory assistance, public phones and basic telephone service.

Today TIO processes about 1,200 complaints per week. Approximately 95% of these cases are solved within 48 hours and only 0.05% of these end up in court. As do most arbitrage processes, the TIO does not analyze cases from a strictly legalistic viewpoint but rather on the base of merit and reasonability.

The costs incurred by TIO are covered by all of the telecommunications companies depending on the number of complaints raised against them.

In spite of all this success, however, and to the detriment of all Australian users, aspects related to tariffs are unfortunately out of TIO’s jurisdiction. 

I am convinced that in order to truly comply with his role of defender of the rights of the users of public services, the Ombudsman must be involved in the process of establishment of tariffs. Evidently, this role in tariff fixation must be based on reasonability, and not on the blocking of tariff increases which are necessary in order to continue to guarantee an adequate service.

How wonderful it would be to see the incorporation of the figure of the Ombudsman of Telecommunications to help with our own privatization efforts. He could most certainly help insure that the awarding of concessions does not result in a penalty for future users. 

Likewise, his support of the inclusion of norms and regulations in the concession agreements that would guarantee a good level of service as of day one would save us a lot of the grief we are shouldering today.

An Ombudsman would be most welcome in what has up to now been a negotiated process strictly between telecommunications companies and the nation. If the players do not accept this, we should require it of the Constituent Assembly.

In closing, I remind the users of cellular phone services in Venezuela, that tariffs in Israel, for example, are 10 times lower than theirs. The explanation? In Israel, the concessions were awarded to those operators who offered to install the most lines and the lowest tariffs. In Venezuela the concessions are awarded to those that offer the best deal for the taxman.

Let's, all whakapohane!

I remember having read a few years back about one particular method used by the Maori of New Zealand to protest about something that bothered them. This method consists of lining up a group of Maori tribesmen, turning their backs towards the person or persons that are the target of the protest, dropping their trousers and showing them their naked backsides. This rite is named Whakapohane. 

Without delving further into this tradition, and in spite of the fact that it seems primitive and is most certainly an ugly spectacle, I think it could be also classified as a civilized and most efficient way to protest. Civilized because it does no damage to anyone or anything (except to those people with a well-developed sense of esthetics) and efficient because it manages to consolidate into one single act and gesture all the sense we could possibly assign to a real social sanction.

There is no doubt that we are often frustrated at not being able to find a way to vehemently protest about the stupid, naive and criminal behavior that negatively affects our country on a daily basis.

The idea of putting together a group of citizens, family men, professionals and white-collar workers with briefcases and ties and heading out to the street to shamelessly whakapohane any deserving person is appealing. Consider the following:

What has been demonstrated without doubt over the past decades in Venezuela is an utter incapacity by government to manage its resources. The International Monetary Fund, for example, predicates that the solution to Venezuela's problems can be found by giving government even more resources to squander by way of increased taxes (as if our oil income wasn't enough taxation).

Clearly, the IMF deserves an act of Whakapohane from our citizens. 

Banking charters are usually awarded in order for them to participate actively in the development of the country's economy.

It is not enough for them to simply return the funds they have received on deposit, since if this were so, it would be better to simply buy a good mattress and put it into a large safe.

There are still many who think it is best to be puritan and to simply continue to tighten the screws on financial solvency of banks without paying attention to the real purpose of banking institutions These people deserve a solid Whakapohane.

There are many national authorities that evidently are aware of the damage to economies that short-term capital flows can cause, and also know that other countries have put workable legislation into place to limit these damages.

They cannot be bothered to take the 48 hours required to simply copy this legislation and enact it in Venezuela. There is no doubt that these authorities deserve to be Whakapohaned.

Those people related to the oil sector that have not been able to either see or warn the country about the possibility of a fall in world oil prices, who, in spite of arguing in favor of conquering new markets, run for cover behind OPEC's skirts when confronted with adverse situations, and who continue to invest scarce resources in projects of low significance such as the expansion of our gasoline stations' capacity to sell snacks, should certainly be offered a great Whakapohane.

Many illustrious representatives of the private sector applauded the privatization of CANTV, without realizing that it was all an elaborate trick perpetrated by the government to collect taxes in advance which we now have to cover through exaggerated service charges. These guys are due a good Whakapohane.

Those die-hard defenders of free trade who simply do not understand that in a globalized world economy each country must, when the chips are down, defend itself and guarantee a minimum internal level of employment should be urgently Whakapohaned.

The entire political and economic system is based on centralized income and decentralized personal apparatchiks.

Members of this system have not been able to come up with a real solution to our problems and should be considered traitors.

They should all be paraded to La Carlota Airport and given the Mother of all Whakapohanes .

We have heard that one of the people most clearly and widely questioned in our recent history is due to return to Venezuela after statutes of limitations have expired.

Just imagine what a marvelous message a small delegation of our "notables" dispatched down to Maiquetía to receive that person with a mini-Whakapohane would send. 

We should definitely not lightly discard the possibility of introducing an ancestral aboriginal custom from New Zealand in to the Venezuelan political scheme . 

Whakapohaners of the world, unite! The alternative are much worse.

Spanish translation

The first version was a blue one

Then, I don't know when... some applied the original concept