CRC cuts wholesale fees

Colombian telecoms watchdog, the Communication Regulation Commission (CRC) has lowered interconnection rates from 1 April 2012, with a view to lowering tariffs for end users and making the use of fixed lines more affordable; according to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, the number of active fixed lines in use in Colombia fell from a peak of 7.98 million at end-2007 to an estimated 6.9 million at end-2011. Termination charges for fixed to mobile calls were lowered to COP138.96 (USD0.076) per minute, from the COP153 per minute rate introduced in January 2012, and COP177 per minute in 2011. Termination rates between mobile lines were reduced from COP98 per minute to COP84 per minute. Inter-departmental – domestic long-distance (DLD) − calls saw the greatest drop in wholesale network access fees, dropping from COP136 per minute to COP90 per minute.