It’s no secret that Hondutel has suffered dramatically since the government owned former telephone monopoly was forced to allow competition. No longer. Hondutel has just proven that it will cripple any company that begins to succeed in that venture.
At 8:30 am on Saturday, January 6, 2007, Hondutel burst into TTI (Tropico Telephone and Internet) offices, in the center of downtown La Ceiba, with any army of M16’s, multiple trucks and an RPG for good measure. Employees, officers, etc. were forced into one room, cell phones taken away (so lawyers could not be called no doubt), and then Hondutel executives and police proceeded to ransack the premises. Ripping equipment out of walls, pocketing cell phones, cds, computer equipment and laptops, all the while helping themselves to the day’s deposits, Hondutel flagrantly disregarded all laws in the midst of their terrorist venture.
Not one piece of equipment was recorded, no receipts given for the day’s deposits stolen. No record. Of anything. No TTI official or technician was allowed to supervise or document the thievery transpiring.
Keep in mind, not only TTI’s property was seized. Clients’ computers in for service, personal laptops, equipment purchased from TTI, but not yet picked up - any and everything that could possibly be considered of value was thrown into HONDUTEL’s trucks and carted away. (Look at how their million dollar equipment is transported.) As TTI’s mail servers were also confiscated, thousands of people’s personal emails are now at Hondutel’s disposal. Hondutel has taken this action against 40 other internet/phone companies in Honduras, eliminating any threat of success from other companies.
Apparently, because they are still a government entity, HONDUTEL has the ability and resources to blaze into offices of the competition, help themselves to any proprietary information, and disable an entire company in a matter of hours, without the need for such a simple thing as a warrant. Certainly HONDUTEL has never even heard of CAFTA, given the numerous violations of those laws that were broken.
Not Just La Ceiba
Towers climbed and radios torn from antennaes, the entire island of Roatan’s node was thrown, engulfing Delta Airlines, Mayan Princess, and hundreds of other businesses into a communication void. Completely unable to accept reservations or communicate with their clients, the revenue lost to Honduras businesses in tourism dollars will be far reaching.
Meanwhile, property owners on whose land TTI’s antennas’ reside, will have to wonder when the next time HONDUTEL (not the police mind you) order them, at gunpoint, to step aside while their property is trampled in a race to completely annihilate the competition.
It certainly did not take the sharks long to swim about the tattered remains of TTI’s years of hard work. Other companies have already petitioned to take over one of TTI’s towers, only days after the slaughter began.
What is the best way to right this travesty of justice? Is HONDUTEL, as a government entity, above the law? Is it at all realistic to think that HONDUTEL can be held accountable for their actions?
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