Argentina. Since winning the elections, the current president of Argentina, Mauricio Macri, announced changes in the telecommunications sector that immediately began to generate discomfort among the leaders of the sector.
This situation became a reality a few days after assuming his mandate. After announcing the creation of a new ministry for the sector, he issued several decrees among which is an intervention to the Federal Authority for Audiovisual Communication Services, Afsca, and the Federal Authority for Information and Communications Technologies, Aftic, which aims to investigate administrative mismanagement.
The new Ministry of Communications, for which Oscar Aguad was appointed (photo), is in charge of the application of the laws that regulate the sector, functions that afsca and Aftic have today. Both regulatory entities were intervened for an initial period of 180 days.
The final result of the intervention to the two regulatory entities will be its closure and its functions will be assumed by the new National Communications Entity, Enacom, for which Miguel de Godoy was appointed as director and by decree three other members of its board were announced representing the government. In addition, it will have three members appointed by the minorities of the congress.
According to what was expressed to the media by the new Minister of Communications, the idea is that the regulation of the sector is in charge of a single decentralized entity, simulating what happens in Mexico with the Federal Institute of Telecommunications or in the United States with the Federal Telecommunications Commission.
All these changes leave without floor several of the measures adopted in the Media Law, which generated a long controversy for the conflict and interference of the state in the media, among other aspects.
As expected, the former leaders of the sector have expressed their rejection of these changes. Who since the first announcements of the new government has raised his voice has been Martín Sabbatella, former president of Afsca, who considered that these are arbitrary and unconstitutional changes.
