ITC Services: “Basic Mandatory Universal Benefit” is regulated

The Argentine Communications Entity, (the “ENACOM” after its acronym in Spanish) issued Resolution No. 1467/2020 (the “Resolution”) which was published in the Official Gazette on December 21, 2020. The Resolution approved the so-called “Basic Mandatory Universal Benefit” (the “PBU” after its acronym in Spanish) for the following services (i) Basic Telephone Service; (ii) Mobile Communications Services; (iii) Value Added Service of Internet Access and (iv) TV services paid by subscription through physical or radio electric or satellite link.

The licensees of the above-mentioned services (hereinafter, the “Providers”) are required to include the PBU in their bids starting January 1, 2021 pursuant to the terms of the Resolution, which also includes four annexes with information on the price of each of the services. Similarly, they must inform their users about the Resolution in their invoices, institutional websites and all the social networks and channels through which they communicate with their clients and/or advertise their services.

Users may adhere to the PBU approved by the Resolution including: a) beneficiaries of the Universal Child Allowance and the Pregnancy Allowance and their relatives; b) beneficiaries of non-contributory pensions who receive a gross monthly income below two Minimum Vital and Mobile Wages, as well as any of their children between the ages of 16 and 18; c) users registered in the Social Single Contribution System and any of their children between the ages of 16 and 18; d) retirees and pensioners; and employed workers who receive a gross remuneration below or equal to two Minimum Wages; e) single-income workers registered in a category whose annual monthly income does not exceed two Minimum Wages, as well as any of their children between the ages of 16 and 18; f) users who receive unemployment insurance as well as any of their children between the ages of 16 and 18; g) users registered in the Special Social Security Regime for Housekeeping Service Workers as well as any of their children between the ages of 16 and 18; h) users who receive a scholarship from the Progresar program; i) persons who are unemployed or working in the informal economy (i.e. off the books), as well as any of their children between the ages of 16 and 18; j) beneficiaries of welfare programs, as well as any of their children between the ages of 16 and 18; k) Neighborhood and Town Clubs that are registered in accordance with the provisions of Law No. 27,098; l) Voluntary Firefighter Associations; m) Public Good entities such as: civil associations, simple associations and foundations that do not pursue direct or indirect profit and non-profit community organizations with municipal authorization that carry out programs for the promotion and protection of rights or carry out direct social assistance activities without charging the recipients for the services they provide, and are registered with the National Center of Community Organizations.

Under the Resolution, Providers must implement an agile and simple system in all their attention channels so that users can opt in to receive Basic Mandatory Universal Benefits by submitting a simple sworn statement.

Under the Resolution, Providers may request that benefit prices be updated every quarter, taking as a reference the adjustment variables applied to the Universal Allowance per Child for Social Protection (AUH), provided that they have complied with the registration and submission of the information provided for in the Resolution, as appropriate.

Every month, within the first five working days, Providers must report to ENACOM, through the web platform (https://serviciosweb.enacom.gob.ar/), how many beneficiaries accessed the PBU, within the framework of the provisions of the Resolution. The first due date for the number of users who accessed the PBU will be within the first 5 working days of March 2021.