Currency Crisis Has Venezuelans Struggling to Call Abroad

Currency Crisis Has Venezuelans Struggling to Call Abroad
CARACAS, Venezuela — Jul 31, 2015, 12:01 AM ET
By HANNAH DREIER Associated Press

Venezuelans are struggling to call abroad as telephone carriers fall
behind on payments to international partners amid a currency crisis that
is leaving the country increasingly cut off from the rest of the world.

The South American nation's largest private telephone operator,
Movistar, quietly ended service to all but 10 countries in May. The
other major private operator here, Digitel, cut service to more than 100
countries around the same time, and later told congress it was tens of
millions of dollars in debt to foreign providers.

The changes have not been formally announced. Instead, Venezuelans are
making the unhappy discovery when they dial an international number and
bump into an ominous pre-recorded error message.

Caracas shopkeeper Wilmer Ruiz realized last week that he couldn't call
his family in Cuba or a friend who immigrated to Ecuador. Both countries
have been staunch allies of Venezuela's 16-year socialist revolution.

"We're just falling behind the rest of the world in every way," Ruiz said.

Internet calling services like Skype go only so far toward resolving the
issue. Many people don't have easy access to WiFi, so they have to rely
on cellphone data packages that can be prohibitively expensive. And
pay-as-you-go services that allow for cheap calls to cellphones over the
Internet require a foreign credit card, which most Venezuelans don't have.

In Ruiz's case, his friend in Ecuador can't afford a full data plan and
his Cuban family has no Internet access.

Phone service was spotty in Venezuela even in better days. Though when a
call does go through, international rates are capped at basement prices,
with a four-hour call to Hong Kong costing less than 50 cents at the
black market exchange rate.

The phones are just the latest things to go as currency rationing cuts
Venezuela off from global trade.

Foreign airlines have abandoned the country over the past year because
of Venezuela's limits on repatriating profits. Last year, the state-run
postal service indefinitely suspended international mail deliveries. In
the spring, the government slashed the amount of local currency citizens
are allowed to convert into dollars when they travel abroad to as little
as $300, essentially blocking vacations for anyone who can't afford to
buy currency on the black market.

Decade-old regulations require companies and individuals to get
government approval for converting local bolivars into dollars. And with
the administration running low on dollars itself amid a general economic
collapse, officials have been increasingly reluctant to part with any
foreign currency.

Digitel has not received any dollars since 2014, company president
Oswaldo Cisneros told congress in June. Venezuela's state-owned
provider, CANTV, took the rare step this year of acknowledging in its
annual report that the lack of access to dollars has limited its growth.

CANTV, which industry experts say provides about 40 percent of the
country's international calling service, did not return requests for
comment on whether it is cutting destinations. Federation of
Telecommunication Workers leader Evencio Chacon, who represents the
company's employees, said international service has been scaled back.

Diplomats at the German, Romanian, Austrian and Dutch embassies also
report problems calling home. All spoke on condition of anonymity to
avoid upsetting delicate relations with the government.

Source: Currency Crisis Has Venezuelans Struggling to Call Abroad - ABC
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http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/currency-crisis-venezuelans-struggling-call-abroad-32796361