Legislation

Chile – Telecom regulator backs online ban

By James - 25 September 2023

Chile’s Undersecretary of Telecommunications (SUBTEL) has backed the Supreme Court’s decision to block access to online betting platforms.

Speaking with local media ADN Hoy Undersecretary of SUBTEL Claudio Arraya,  made it clear that the regulator supported the decision of the Supreme Court.

“The ruling of the Supreme Court has already been issued and written, therefore, what remains pending is the formalization by the Superintendency of Casinos and Games of Chance regarding the sites that must be blocked,” Arraya explained while emphasizing that “the Supreme Court was categorical in pointing out that these sites are illegal.”

Araya explained that “due to network neutrality, (companies) cannot block legal content, but here we are dealing with content that has already been declared illegal by the highest court in the country,” he said.

Regarding the option of extending the ruling to other internet providers, the undersecretary stated that “the ruling is applicable to all companies.” According to Arraya Subtel was waiting for a list of online operators from the gambling board to begin work on blocking the sites.

Chile’s telecom regulator, SUBTEL comes under the Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications. 

Following the announcement the president of Chile Telcos, Alfie Ulloa, representing Entel, GTD/Telefónica del Sur, Movistar, ClaroVTR and Mundo Pacífico confirmed that it would also submit to the ruling of the Supreme Court.

“Companies are waiting for the Government to tell them which pages to block. We are working with the companies to understand how this will be done. We have also had meetings along these lines with Subtel and the Government . . . I would expect that within this week or early next week the URLs will already be blocked,” he said.