Tigo and Más Móvil Agencies are Cracked Down on by Panama’s ASEP
It was a surprise inspection of the two telephone companies that provide service in the country.
The National Authority of Public Services (ASEP) conducted unannounced inspections on Saturday, February 21, at the Tigo and Más Móvil branches inside Multiplaza, in San Francisco. It was a simultaneous inspection to assess customer service. The operation involved reviewing wait times, quality of service, and whether users’ rights were being respected. The law grants ASEP this authority, and they decided to exercise it without prior notice.
At the forefront were the National Director of Telecommunications (TELCO), Alkin Saucedo, and the Director of User Services, Edwin González, accompanied by technical and legal teams. During the day there were internal checks, customer interviews and process reviews at both agencies. According to Saucedo, they found “opportunities for improvement” that will now be evaluated under administrative procedures.
He was clear: if measures need to be taken, they will be applied as mandated by law. For his part, González asserted that this is just the beginning. The intention is to visit all the stores of telephone companies nationwide because, he said, their responsibility is to ensure that users don’t have to wait hours to resolve a problem.
Among the main complaints detected are failures in the quality of service, interruptions due to fiber optic work and the full billing of periods in which the service was suspended, forcing people to go in person to fight for refunds. During the inspection, ASEP officials even intervened in some cases of advance payments, providing real-time guidance to users. The message was clear: oversight will be ongoing in the telecommunications sector.
