Colombian operators Avantel, Tigo (Millicom), DireccTV, ETB and Une EPM have filed a formal complaint with the US Trade Representative (USTR) against the Colombian government for allegedly violating part of the two countries' free trade agreement. They are trying to prevent America Movil's Claro Colombia from outbidding them for 4G spectrum that would allow it to extend its voice dominance into mobile broadband. The complaint faults the government for "persistent regulatory failings in maintaining free competition in mobile services". Specifically, they want USTR to request that Colombia issue regulations in service packaging, roaming and infrastructure access that reflect the asymmetric nature of Colombia's telecom market. In their joint statement the operators say that this is the first formal complaint made against the Colombian government for not upholding the FTA, which has been in place for over a year. The operators have also threatened to refer the matter to the World Trade Organization. Telesemana writes that when Colombian regulator CRC tried to implement asymmetric call termination in the past, Claro appealed on the grounds that its former director had links with Une EPM.
