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 Technology News | April 2007 
Mexican Telecom Regulator Promises to Move to Digital Service, Improve Competition
 Associated Press
| | Telefonos de Mexico SA, or Telmex, owned by the world's second-richest man, Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, controls more than 90 percent of the nation's fixed phone lines, while his America Movil SA provides about 70 percent of cell-phone service in Mexico. |
Mexico City - The Mexican government on Tuesday vowed to bring greater competition and accountability to the country's telecommunications sector, including telephone, Internet, TV and radio industries long dominated by a handful of powerful companies.
At a planning meeting where Communications and Transport Secretary Luis Tellez voiced the need for greater competition, the semiautonomous Federal Telecommunications Commission, or Cofetel, also announced it is working to convert the country's radio and television from analog to digital. That move may come by the end of the year, beginning with radio on the northern border with the U.S.
Commission member Ernesto Gil said digital radio signals in the U.S. already have begun to hamper radio service on the Mexican side of the border.
Tellez told Cofetel members and industry representatives that greater competition would allow more Mexicans access to opportunities provided by new technologies.
"Letting this new technology remain in just a few selective hands is something we do not want and are not going to allow," Tellez said.
Telefonos de Mexico SA, or Telmex, owned by the world's second-richest man, Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, controls more than 90 percent of the nation's fixed phone lines, while his America Movil SA provides about 70 percent of cell-phone service in Mexico. Telmex also dominates Internet service, with 1.8 million high-speed accounts.
In television, Grupo Televisa and TV Azteca control roughly 70 percent and 30 percent of the market, respectively. Cable operators enjoy regional pay-TV monopolies, and a small number of companies control the radio industry.
Tackling monopolies in various industries was a key campaign promise of President Felipe Calderon, who took office on Dec. 1 with a pledge to create jobs and improve economic productivity.
Tellez had previously accused Cofetel of bowing to powerful telecoms companies and not looking out for consumers' interests. In remarks published in the Financial Times, he said the regulatory agency had not moved fast enough to open access to Telmex's fixed-line network and had been too lenient with tariffs.
But Cofetel President Hector Osuna Jaime told reporters after Tuesday's meeting that any conflict was in the past.
"The fact that (Tellez) attended the meeting today demonstrates that there is a very serious and respectful institutional relationship," he said.
Cofetel also announced that it will auction off additional frequency bands for telecommunications providers sometime this year. |
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