Gatonet is not a consumer option – 02/14/2023 – Maria Inês Dolci

Anatel (National Telecommunications Agency) is right in announcing that it will block “gatonet” (clandestine pay-TV devices). Piracy is not a consumer option. It’s a crime. Access to services is obtained with supplier competition and smarter taxation, in addition to economic growth, with the creation of formal jobs and increased family income.

This does not, however, prevent Anatel from discussing with pay TV operators the offer of more flexible packages at a more accessible cost, without forcing, for example, the consumer to hire channels that do not interest him in order to have access to certain sports or movies. There are also many complaints about movie channels, whose quality has dropped a lot in recent years. This flexibility and understanding of consumer needs would also help combat piracy.

Regarding taxation, this is the most appropriate time to discuss taxes and fees on broadband access, mobile telephony and pay TV. The three are essential for communication, study, work and play. I do not therefore consider them superfluous.

I emphasize that this is the moment to debate taxation, because the Executive and Legislative branches will elaborate, and probably vote and approve, a tax reform. If the result is an increase in the tax burden, unfortunately, we will continue to have smuggling, piracy, recession, unemployment and loss of purchasing power. That is, Brazil will continue with an anemic economy, perpetuating the concentration of income, misery and impoverishment of the middle class.

Someday, we will have to stop pretending that the minimum wage covers the basic needs of Brazilians. Most retirements and pensions are also insufficient to ensure an existence that is at least dignified for the elderly, as they often do not even buy medication for continuous use for chronic diseases that are so common over the age of 60.

We will no longer be able to postpone, also, the inclusion in Social Security of workers and informal workers, who did not choose to work that way. They accept these precarious conditions to survive.

Finally, it will not be with an illegal economy that we will improve the lives of consumers. Behind the pirated products, there is the financing of criminal activities, which cause pain and suffering to millions of people.

What starts with an electricity cat (clandestine connection to the electricity grid) or cable TV can end up in other crimes. It is better to bet on political mobilization and the transformation of our unfair and backward economic and social system.

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