Saturday the National Police of Haiti (PNH) has proceeded to the seizure of two devices that may contain 108 SIM cards, five outdoor antennas, a generator, inverters, three laptops, two desktops one GPS and eight surveillance cameras in the street Clerveaux in Petion-Ville.

The owner of the equipment was able to make 216 international phone calls simultaneously. In addition the police have seized 180 recharge cards of 100 gourdes of the companies Voilà and Natcom and 27 SIM cards of the phone operator Voilà.

The seizure of this equipment valued at nearly U.S. $ 75.000 follows an investigation by the unit against phone fraud, which is an entity composed of the PNH, the CONATEL and internet providers.

"After several complaints filed by phone companies to the National Council of Telecommunications (CONATEL), relief begins to come," said Gerard Laborde, of phone operator Voilà, which by the same occasion says noted a significant drop in complaints.

For his part, Jean Pierre Larrio, legal consultant of CONATEL states that "The companies record a deficit estimated at 12 million dollars per year, the taxes of these calls could allow 120,000 children to attend school in the program of the National Fund for Education (FNE)," adding that the police will continue its investigations to apprehend these illegal operators who could face up to three years of prison.

Last June, a meeting presided by the current Foreign Minister, Laurent Lamothe, took place to brainstorm with the justice to see how it is possible to stop to put an end to the activities of piracy on international calls, what is called "bypassing (1)" in the language of telecommunications.

As part of this operation no arrests have been made.

(1) Bypass Example

For example a call via a legitimate route would normally cost $0.8 with an initiation fee of $0.5 in country A and a termination fee of $0.3 in country B.

In the case of a bypass through VoIP (Voice over IP) the initiation fee is $0.15 and the termination fee is $0.05. The mobile operator in country B loses $0.25 (0.3-0.05) in termination fees, which results in an 83% loss, so the state also loses income (tax). There are also bypass via GSM technology (GSM Gateway), Bypass can also be national, incoming or outgoing. Bypassing interconnect points via cheaper routes such as the Internet.

See also :

https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-3187-haiti-communication-meeting-at-the-palace-to-fight-the-bypassing.html

HL/ HaitiLibre