SIC fines telecommunications company for unauthorized marketing purposes

The Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (SIC) of Colombia, as National Authority for Personal Data Protection, imposed a sanction of $245.000 USD to the telecommunications company CLARO COLOMBIA, for making use of a data portability database (where all cell phone numbers in Colombia are registered), with the goal of making massive marketing campaigns and attract new users.

The company would have consciously and improperly used a database that has been created jointly by several operators and the Colombian authorities for marketing purposes, even when it was aware that said database was design solely and exclusively to facilitate the data portability process of users when they wish to transit between operators of services of mobile telecommunications.

It was established that, between January 2020 and April 2021, CLARO made around 7.425.820 unauthorized calls to users of other operators, improperly treating the information contained in the data portability database, and generating profits that amount to approximately to $3.458.364 USD.