Digicel Accused Of Violating Network Policy

CASTRIES, St. Lucia, CMC – Telecommunications Company, Digicel, has been found to be in breach of the principle of Internet Neutrality, as a result of its move to restrict Over the Top (OTT) Services, in particular, Viper, to residents across the Caribbean.

The Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL) accused Digicel of the violation during the just ended 16th Consultative Forum of Representatives of the five National Telecommunications Regulatory Commissions held here.

Digicel recently announced its intention to restrict the use of OTT services, particularly, Viper, indicating that it disapproves of Viper’s use of its network to deliver Internet telephony to Digicel customers at no cost, and that its efforts at securing a commercial contract with Viper for use of its network had failed.

“ECTEL and the NTRC’s (National Telecommunications Regulatory Commissions) note that the restriction of Viper and other similar OTT services is in breach of the principle of Internet Neutrality which ECTEL promotes.

“The issue of restricting OTT services has been discussed at the level of the Board of Directors and the Council of Ministers of ECTEL and the representatives of the five commissions in the ECTEL member states.

“The council of Ministers expressed its disapproval of Digicel’s intention, and in particular, articulated its commitment to ensure that actions of service providers do not inhibit innovation in the telecommunications sector as contained in Article 4 of the Treaty,” ECTEL said in a statement.

The telecommunications authority was referring to the treaty that established it as the mouth piece of the OECS,on matters related to telecommunications in the sub-region.

According to ECTEL, the issue revolves around a commercial agreement between Digicel and a provider of OTT services; therefore, it will not be drawn into the private commercial dispute save where the dispute falls within its jurisdiction.

“The intention of restricting incoming communications by Digicel amounts to interception which cannot be justified unless the consent of the sender or the receiver has been obtained. Digicel must therefore be transparent in its terms and conditions so that subscribers are fully aware of what they are signing up to,” ECTEL noted.

The Authority said the way forward is to continue discussion with the respective regulatory authorities.

It also noted that developments in the ICT sector have created the platforms for innovations in content development and distribution and therefore OTT’s will continue to grow.

It proposed a resolution of these issues to be undertaken at the regional level to include all stakeholders — regulation, consumers, and service providers.