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Telefonica del Peru could be held Responsible for Network Collapse after Earthquake

(LIP-ir) -- The magnitude-8 earthquake which struck Peru on Aug 15 devastated large parts of Peru's regions, destroying thousands of buildings and killing hundreds of people.

One of the effects of the earthquake was the loss of all communications, landlines as well as cellular phone communication.

Not only were Peru's residents unable to contact each other, government officials and even Peru's military was out of touch. Peru's Minister of Transport and Communication, Verónica Zavala, proposed a solution for the evident weakness in the communications system in Peru.

Peru's government has arranged for a special telephone network to be installed. This new network will include a special emergency line, a private line for all government officials and the new 119 number on which messages can be left in emergency situations.

Minister Zavala explained that the collapse of the telephone network on August 15, was due to the excessive amount of calls that were attempted to be made, cellular phone calls as well as landline calls. She added that the provinces of Chincha and Pisco suffered damages such as damaged telephone posts and torn fiber-optic cables.

Peru's Minister of Transport and Communication stated that on September 13, a full report would be issued on the exact damages caused and the condition the network was in before the earthquake and after the earthquake. It is being determined if Telefonica del Peru was responsible and if they should be fined.

- related articles -
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	Peru's Phone Companies to Create New System for Emergencies (by LIP, Aug 31, 2007)
	Earthquake Reveals Peru's Government Needs New Phone System (by LIP, Aug 29, 2007)
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# Michael White says :
6 September, 2007 [ 07:41 ]

Telefónica has been an expensive disaster since long before the earthquake.

# Alan Duncan says :
6 September, 2007 [ 09:47 ]

Like all responsible business managers Telefónica designs its network to carry a certain volume of traffic plus an extra for unusual circumstances. No company can invest the money required to face sudden peak demand which exceeds the normal by several hundred percent. At the time of the earthquake everybody including you and myself picked up the phone - either fixed or mobile - and called members of our family and possibly friends to enquire after their safety. This increased normal traffic volume by several hundred percent. The system became saturated and unable to complete calls.

Responsible Government installs radio and other comunication systems for purposes of national defense that are not vulnerable to physical damage such as bombs or earthquakes. It is not the private sector communications companies' responsibility to do this unless under contract to goverment.

My question to Michael White is to ask whether he lived in Peru when the telephone company was run by the goverment? It was not uncommon to have to wait between 10 and 15 years for a phone line and when you finally got one you might have had to wait several minutes for a dial tone. Just take a look around you to see the maze of telephone and electric wiring hanging from and between every post in town - half of which is inoperative but not removed when replaced by more modern systems 20 or more years ago. Are you going to blame Telefónica for that too?. Why does nobody mention that Claro and Nextel phone systems also suffered from to same overload with the same consequences.

The facts are that communications came back on within 60 to 90 minutes after the earthquake as initial call volume reduced, except for mobile in areas where repeaters towers had collapsed.

Lets look at things objectively and find the truth that lies behind headlines and hysteria!

# Scott says :
6 September, 2007 [ 13:45 ]

Telefonica sucks.  They need to break up the monopoly they have by running both cable and telephone.  In Northern California I have Comcast offering fast and cheap high speed cable modem service for internet and SBC offering fast and cheap DSL service.  It's called competition and is good for the consumer.  Here Telefonica has a monopoly and only bothers to offer expensive DSL service.  The people of Peru are being cheated and it affects the ability of the average person to afford good internet.

# Michael White says :
6 September, 2007 [ 22:12 ]

I have been living here around 20 years. The telephone worked fine then. But that is irrelevant to today. The government & the telephone company should be prepared for natural disasters in a country is prone to them. We suffered with telephones & internet for days after the earthquake.
Earthquakes aside:
Telefónica Terra-ible? Terra.com or terror.com?

It is only efficient in repeatedly demanding payment for bad services or services & bills not received.
Their offices have luxury & ostentation seen in few homes & businesses in Peru, so that their employees have the required comfort to mistreat their less fortunate victims.

If you need a new telephone, you need a new line & number & to pay installation/removal, & will lose contact with all those previous clients who obtain numbers from directories, publicity material etc.

Teléfonos fijos (Land lines)
---------------
The household/office landline telephones are so small it is difficult to hang them up properly & calls are y frequently lost.
The telephone rings so few times it is difficult to reply before the caller hangs up.
The telephones are so small, with just 40cm of cable, & a keyboard so small it is difficult to see & dial well, & as a result more wrong numbers are dialled/received.
Calls are frequently cut off, interrupted & of poor quality.

Los teléfonos celulares (Mobile phones)
-----------------------
Telefónica may lend a used ( & decrepit) telephone temporarily, but if it goes missing they charge the price of a new one.
Employees of Telefónica, are charged full sale price if a telephone is stolen from their sales kiosk.
Movistar had such a bad reputation that they had to introduce another brandname, 'Claro' which is deteriorating equally. Both are oversubscribed & overloaded overe increasingly longer periods.
 
Los teléfonos monederos (payphones)
-----------------------
These do not accept half the coins, even genuine ones.
They have railings & cables so short they serve only for contorsionists.

Las tarjetas de Telefónica (Telephone cards)
--------------------------
Telefónica's cards are among the most expensive, frequently do not function well & you have to key in an excessive number of digits to dial a number (especially international calls).

103/109
-------
They charge for directory enquiries, but a dalek replies too rapidly, just once & hangs up. You have to dial several times to obtain the complete number. When you dial, they reply 'That number does not exist'.

You request the number of Hotel Huamachuco in Huamachuco, & they give you the number of Hostal Bracamonte in Huanchaco. You can understand the confusion of Huamachuco y Huanchaco, but giving the number of the competition is a different form of corruption.

108
---
A call to international directory enquiries is answered in Spanish, asking you to dial 1,2,3, 4 or wait according to your requirements. Foreigners have no idea what to do. Finally, when they dial they reply 'That number does not exist'.

Internet
--------
The ISP of 'El Comercio' was always excellent & gratis, but Telefónica did something to anul it & maintain their monopoly.
The ''Speedy'' service gets slower & slower requiring constant upgrades in your computer, as their system is oversubscribed.  Each time the technicians of Telefónica come to instal, connect or modify a connection, they lose & delete programmes & files, burn equipment etc.
As their reputation declined, they offered the service known as speedy, which is everything but that.

Cable mágico
------------
The number of English language programmes is ever decreasing.
The quality of signal & frequency of loss of signal are worsening.

Complaints
------
Pay first, complain later. You have to pay for bad services/services not received in a huge queue, before passing to an even longer queue to complain, (& finally you have to wait at home until they decide to come), while there are 10 times as many señoritas offering the sale of new services.

Conclusión

----------

Telefónica del Perú is expensive, inefficient, rude, abusive & has minimal public relations.
It should have had a monopoly for just 2 years, & paid superprofits back to its customers.
The government promised not to renew its contract with Telefónica, & should have fulfilled that promise.
The government condones this abuse because it taxes the profits.
Apparently the telephone is considered as a luxury & not as a necessity for work & social development.
In the USA there is such a level of competition that companies have to function well. If someone so much as mentions the name of a competitor, the supplier rushes to fix any imperfection. Lack of conscienciousness is noted here.

# Scott says :
7 September, 2007 [ 08:35 ]

The good news on cable is you can switch to Direct TV now for about the same price and vastly better programming.  I encourage everyone to do it especially if they love sports other than futbol.