The former head of the Joint Chiefs, retired General Romeo Vasquez Velasquez, was sworn in yesterday afternoon as Hondutel’s manager. The assistant manager, Jesus Mejia, was also sworn in.
Just 12 days after his removal as Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, General Romeo Vasquez Velasquez was appointed as manager of Hondutel, a government owned company that was pushed to the brink of bankruptcy by previous governments. Hondutel lost over 80,000 customers in 2009.
Tags: Honduran Business & Economics
The former manager of Hondutel, Marcelo Chimirri, is expected to hear his sentence announced in the courts today.
Chimirri was charged by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor of the crime of abuse of authority and found guilty, but acquitted on charges of fraud. The trial court set the hearing for sentencing today. The Criminal Code outlines that for the crime of abuse of authority, one would serve from three to six years imprisonment; it is expected that the prosecution would seek the maximum.
Tags: Honduran Business & Economics
The mismanagement Hondutel has had in the past four years could be paid by landline users.
According to recent reports, the state closed with losses of 220 million Lempiras. This was due to the mass recruitment of employees and wasteful projects that boosted expenses.
One proposal for the financial recovery of Hondutel, is to cut staff and ultimately increase the cost of land lines. Currently, subscribers pay 307.10 Lempiras to have a land line installed, but this fee could be increased to 353.90 lempiras this year, to 439.70 Lempiras in 2011, and elevated to 541.10 Lempiras in 2012. Such is the proposal from the Unit of Planning, Evaluation and Management of Hondutel (UPEG).
Tags: Honduran Business & Economics
Digicel’s Honduran unit plans to launch a legal bid to recover monies it claims it is owed by national PTO Hondutel concerning the latter’s failure to adhere to the terms of their Interconnection Agreement.
Digicel says it is looking to sue for HNL10 million (USD538,000) in payments covering the term from February 2009, unless the debt is honored.
Last month Digicel said that if it failed to get an agreement concerning payment of the debt, it would be forced to suspend incoming international calls. However, December 16th the National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel) ordered it to permit the entry of international calls from Hondutel, and instead take the matter to arbitration.
