Answer Due March 23 in UPM’s FCC Complaint vs. Digicel-Haiti
Digicel-Haiti’s response is due March 23 to UPM Technology’s Feb. 21 complaint alleging Digicel-Haiti violated the Communications Act by banning resale of UPM’s telecommunications service, said an FCC Enforcement Bureau notice Thursday (docket 23-64). UPM’s reply is due April 3,…
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said the notice. The complaint summarizes UPM’s counterclaims against Digicel-Haiti, which the U.S. District Court for Oregon stayed in October as Digicel-Haiti’s fraud case against UPM progressed toward a jury trial (see 2301260042|). Digicel-Haiti also violated the statute by its “chosen means of enforcing its ban on resale -- blocking traffic from UPM,” said the complaint. The case comes under FCC jurisdiction because Digital-Haiti was a carrier that ran a “Roam Like You’re Home” (RLYH) service, it said. Anyone in the U.S. with a SIM card for Digicel-Haiti’s network and enough money in the SIM card’s account could purchase RLYH service, it said. The complaint alleges Digicel-Haiti blocked the commerce in SIM cards that UPM bought through agents in Haiti and had shipped to the U.S., and that UPM had enrolled in RLYH for its resale business. “Digicel-Haiti’s conduct was not a mere technical violation of some formalistic rule,” said the complaint. “By stymying UPM’s efforts to compete, Digicel-Haiti directly undermined the Commission’s policy of relying on competition and technological innovation to drive international call termination rates down to cost,” it said.