CHILE Law and Practice Contributed by: Carolina Cabrera, LawTech
Dedicated team or capacity-based models are also common in outsourcing, staff augmentation, managed services and agile delivery. Overall, Chilean IT con - tracts often combine fixed implementation fees, recur - ring subscription or support fees, time-and-materials for enhancements, consumption-based cloud charg - es and service credits for SLA failures. 5. Telecommunications and Networks 5.1 Telecoms Laws and Regulations The core telecommunications statute in Chile is the General Telecommunications Law, supplemented by regulations, technical rules, plans and administra - tive instructions issued mainly through the Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications and SUBTEL. The law defines telecommunications broadly and clas - sifies services into categories such as broadcasting services, public telecommunications services, limited telecommunications services, amateur radio services and intermediate telecommunications services. It also regulates installation, operation and exploitation of services, spectrum, concessions, permits, intercon - nection, portability and roaming. A key recent development is the Internet as a Public Service reform, which brings internet access express - ly within public telecommunications services and rein - forces principles such as technological neutrality, uni - versal access, continuity, convergence, infrastructure sharing, transparency and efficient use of spectrum and public resources. Net neutrality is another important component. Inter - net access providers must not arbitrarily block, inter - fere with, discriminate, hinder or restrict lawful con - tent, applications or services, subject to technical network management and legal exceptions. Telecoms providers are also subject to consumer protection, data protection, cybersecurity and, where relevant, computer crime and electronic contracting rules. Therefore, the Chilean telecoms framework is built around the Telecommunications Law and SUB - TEL rules, but must be read together with internet
public service, net neutrality, spectrum, consumer, cybersecurity and data protection regimes. 5.2 Telecoms Regulatory Bodies The main telecommunications regulator in Chile is SUBTEL, the Undersecretariat of Telecommunica - tions. SUBTEL is part of the Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications and is the specialist authority responsible for applying and supervising the Telecom - munications Law and its regulations. SUBTEL’s role includes technical regulation, supervi - sion, inspection and enforcement. It participates in concessions, permits and authorisations; administers and controls spectrum; issues technical rules; super - vises providers; monitors compliance with service, quality, infrastructure, interconnection, portability and roaming obligations; and may initiate sanctioning pro - cedures within its powers. The Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications is relevant as the sector ministry and public policy authority. Certain decrees, concessions and policy decisions are issued through the Ministry, while SUB - TEL acts as the specialised technical and regulatory arm. Other authorities may become relevant depending on the issue. Competition matters may involve the Fis- calía Nacional Económica and the Tribunal de Defen- sa de la Libre Competencia . Consumer matters may involve SERNAC. Cybersecurity matters may involve the National Cybersecurity Agency, and data protec - tion matters will involve the Data Protection Agency once fully operational. The National Television Council may be relevant for television broadcasting and audiovisual content, while SUBTEL remains relevant for the technical telecom - munications layer. Therefore, SUBTEL is the core telecoms regulator, but operators may interact with competition, consumer, cybersecurity, data protection and audiovisual authorities. 5.3 Telecoms-Related Regulated Activities Telecommunications-related activities are regulated when they involve the installation, operation or exploi - tation of telecommunications services, networks, sys -
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