By Jorge Torres Romero and Cinthia Mora
As is usual, the government of Mario Abdo Benítez is quietly negotiating to deal a blow to national interests, by stripping the spectrum from the company Hola Paraguay (Vox) to transfer it to the North American company Rivada Networks. Clearly, the agreement is a submissive one, despite the fact that they want to “make up” it.
The company Copaco’s Vox is analyzing the possibility of granting a “lease” the operations of its wireless broadband business to a North American company engaged in wholesale open access network infrastructure.
Is about Rivada Networks Inc., which is interested in spectrum transfer and commercial collaboration with Vox. This spectrum is the means by which the electromagnetic wave frequencies used for mobile telephony services are transmitted, making it the most valuable asset of the local company.
You may be interested: Petropar “ghost” grinding train: Public Contracting investigates the delay
To make this spectrumthe interested firm proposed to seek financing to invest USD 300,000,000 to upgrade, expand and take over Vox’s wireless network, introducing 5G technology and expanding coverage and capacity.
Seeking to advance this concession, in July 2021, Hola Paraguay SA (VOX) and Rivada Networks Inc. signed the first Memorandum of Understanding subject to confidentiality, in order to prepare a business proposal with investment in telecommunications of the foreign firm to improve the services of the local company.
This is a contract signed between Copaco and Vox in which it is contemplated that the right to use the spectrum is irrevocable.
Meanwhile, in November last year, the parties drew up a leasing agreement scheme for the assets of Vox’s wireless network. This agreement established that the Paraguayan company would receive USD 10,000,000 in installments, on a 20-year lease with the possibility of extension, a possible annual revenue share when you reach certain revenue thresholds, plus preferential pricing on capacity to serve and expand your wireless business.
While the North American firm would have the obligation to obtain the financing for the project and the right to sell wholesale capacity on the network, as well as a minimum commitment to purchase capacity by Vox, the leasing and sublease of the assets of Vox, including the spectrum license and human resources.
In its eighth clause, it was established that Vox did not require the approval or authorization of any administrative or judicial authority, thus avoiding a stricter process and control.
You may also be interested in: They took US$ 6 million and left a landfill at the Troche plant
If the plan materializes, Rivada will use the Vox-Copaco infrastructure to sell signal to other operators and Vox will be forced to pay to use the improvements made to its network, while you will receive some compensation if you manage to reach the minimum number of subscribers and installment payments annually.
In an opinion made by the lawyer Juan Carlos Mendonca, who had been hired by Vox as an external advisor, modifications were made to the outline of the agreement, such as that the parties were going to continue negotiating within a maximum period of 180 days, that Vox would not It was going to have shared risks with the Rivada company, that Copaco was not going to have any obligation in this agreement, and that the commercial terms were going to be subject to renewals by Conatel every 5 years.
There is already an infrastructure lease agreement and commercial collaboration between Hola Paraguay (Vox) and Rivada Networds. It is a business model that has no law or regulation in Paraguay. No one explains where they got the amount of US$10 million for this operation.
At the end of last January, the then prosecutor Juan Rafael Caballero González asked Sante Vallese, in his capacity as president of Copaco and Vox, to send documentation on the draft agreement with the Rivada company, for its corresponding analysis. Among the data required was the minutes of the Vox board of directors on this agreement, the minutes of the Copaco board of directors, confirmation of the number of Vox clients, the legal scope of the obligations of this company and the mechanisms to end the agreement of not achieving the proposed objectives, among others.
Whereas in April of this year, the Rivada company sent a note to Vallese to request the renewal of the memorandum of understanding, having passed more than 90 days of that initial agreement, to move forward in the negotiations.
THE QUESTIONS TO THIS DELIVERY BUSINESS
As soon as it became public, the agreement was the subject of several questions, one of them being the proposed business model, which consists of virtual operator, known as “Ran Sharing” (infrastructure sharing), which is not legislated or regulated in our country.
Nor can the frequency that the Paraguayan State grants in concession be leased because the law does not allow it. For this situationor there would be legal guarantees that the proposed conditions are adequate to safeguard the interests of VOX-Copaco.
There is already an infrastructure lease agreement and commercial collaboration between Hola Paraguay (Vox) and Rivada Networds. It is a business model that has no law or regulation in Paraguay. No one explains where they got the amount of US$10 million for this operation.
In addition, the amount of $10,000,000 that is proposed is even negligible, since it does not even compensate the debts that Copaco only has with its suppliers and that amounts to G. 108.590.592.808, which at the exchange rate totaled USD 15,082,027.
To all this is added that Copaco licenses have very high costs and that since 2019 it has been splitting the payment to Conatel.
RIVADA’S LINK WITH CONATEL
One important fact is that The intermediary company between Vox and Rivada is Go Paraguay, chaired by Maximiliano Morel Gadea, who is the son of Carlos Morel, a member of the Conatel Council, entity that must give its authorization to carry out the business.
As a result of this serious irregularity, Colorado deputy Basilio “Bachi” Núñez will present a request for interpellation to the head of Copaco, Sante Vallese, on Wednesday. Already at the beginning of the month, the legislator raised his intention to convene Vallese, having as a reason the lack of payment to employees of the institution and the apparent irregular administration of the funds. The congressman has also been requesting reports from this company, but without receiving any response.
This apparent deal is added to other highly contested agreements What the secret act of Itaipu, the case of Petropar with the Argentine company Texos Oil, the delivery of the Dimabel ammunition factory to a Brazilian company, and the Vox-Copaco agreement with the musician Flavio “Kike” Santander, brother-in-law of President Mario Abdo, for the provision of the contact center service.
