Samsung Comes to Terms with Mexico Regulators



Samsung jumped at the chance to offer calling cards in a country where only fools dare to tread. They chose Mexico because the World Trade Organization (WTO) had made a proclamation; either open your [Mexico s] markets to competition, orfailing this the United States will be allowed to take retaliatory measures

So what does Samsung do They dove into the Latin American market full force offering calling cards to make international calls for as little as four cents per minute. Samsung had found a loophole in the Mexican government's regulations. The regulations stated that if a calling card company uses a toll free number to transport calls internationally across the country s telephone network, the calling card company would have to charge a minimum cost.

Well, Samsung used what is coined ITFS (International Toll Free Services) lines to connect directly to a VoIP platform in Mexico; so, for all practical purposes, Samsung was not actually carrying their calls across the country s telephone network. Instead, they were carrying the calls to one of three local access points they had set up in Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey. All calls that were being placed by the utilization of these ITFS numbers were not being carried telephonically across Telmex s networks. The calls, under Cofetel s (then present) regulations were never leaving Mexico by utilization of the Mexican telephony network.

Needless to say, Telmex appealed to Cofetel to use plainer language when defining using the country s telephony network, and Cofetel reacted by redefining the regulations to include any sort of network(s), server(s), internet or IP codec(ing) of such transmissions Aside from all the technical mumbo-jumbo, Samsung found itself in a dilemma. They were given a deadline by which to stop using the ITFS numbers unless they charged a much higher rate to the consumer. Although Samsung appealed the radical [off the cuff - quote by Samsung] regulation changes, they have chosen to work with their adversary instead of looking for ways around them.

They have revamped their strategy, and are now offering international calling cards for two cents per minute. But, wait, you say How can they offer two cents per minute for international calls when they were told they couldn t offer them at four cents Because Samsung has chosen to include Telmex in their latest offerings. Samsung says that if any customer were to sign up for the Telmex LADA 100 NACIONAL calling plan that is available to anyone in any area of Mexico at $10 (USD) per month (see: http://www.shortu.com/dvd), the customer can then call to anywhere within Mexico for only 5 cents per minute, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The only catch is that this includes only 200 minutes per month of in-country calling. Samsung then claims that all a customer has to do is purchase one of their 200 minute LADA 200 NACIONAL calling cards for only $4 (USD), and call into Samsung s Mexico City access number, and then call to anywhere in the USA or Canada. When you add the 5 cents per minute for the Telmex plan (see sidebar), and the 2 cents per minute for the Samsung card, you get international calls to the USA or Canada for only 7 cents per minute, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. How is that for strategizing Telmex gets a piece of the action each and every time a call is placed to Samsung s local access number, and Samsung gets piece (albeit, a much smaller one) as well.

So the saga continues. Samsung seems to have many more people on their side than the competition, but we won't go into that, now, will we 8230;

To view Samsung's offerings, visit their website at: www.samsungcallingcards.com.

A footnote: Samsung spent in excess of $40,000 (USD) to assist their customers when their toll free line was cut short. Instead of staving off their customers, they chose to continue offering a manner in which their customers could continue to stay in touch by setting up a call center in Tijuana to offer unlimited callback services to their customer base.

Kudos to you, Samsung, and may the force (of competitive openness) be with you.

About Samsung
Samsung is a major manufacturer of consumer electronics, and is new to the telecommunications services arena.

About Telmex
Telmex is the incumbent in the telecommunications arena in Mexico, and has branched out to other countries by purchasing large (controlling) interests in other Latin American telecom ventures.





Samsung Comes to Terms with Mexico Regulators