Luis Pablo Segundo/Reform Agency
Monday, January 30, 2023 | 08:15
Mexico City.- The Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador will leave the future of Altán Redes to the next Administration.
The company lacks a business model that allows it to reach its connectivity goal by 2028, companies and specialists alerted.
“Despite the deployment of infrastructure, an unsustainable situation has occurred because the project was built centrally,” said José Juan Haro, director of Wholesale Business and Public Affairs at Telefónica Hispam.
Only in the technical part, Altán Redes has limitations to achieve its long-term objectives, since it operates in the 700 MHz band.
In Latin America, he added, there are projects that occupy up to three types of spectrum bands.
For example, Internet para Todos in Peru, operated by Telefónica, occupies the 700 MHz, 1,900 MHz and AWS bands.
To date, the project, despite its financial restructuring, will not be ready to achieve target coverage, he added.
Last June, after obtaining approval for its financial rescue from the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT), Altán Redes modified its coverage plans from 2026 to 2028.
The dates for meeting the coverage milestones of 70, 85, and 92.2 percent of the population will be November 30, 2022, January 24, 2027, and January 24, 2028, respectively.
After its rescue, the Mexican consortium that manages Red Compartida has not revealed, to date, the status to liquidate its creditors.
In this sense, Jorge Fernando Negrete, president of the Digital Policy Law consultancy, pointed out that the economic and legal framework makes the company uncompetitive.
“Altán Redes has a regulatory framework that makes it uncompetitive, since it does not allow it to provide services like other international firms,” he said.
In November 2022, the Administration of President López Obrador, through the development bank, injected 161 million dollars into Altán Redes and private shareholders contributed another 50.5 million.
With the above, the federal government took 61 percent of the trust rights and the shareholders the remaining 39 percent.
Carlos Lerma, CEO of Altán Redes, indicated that to improve profitability it would be necessary to enter the retail market.
However, according to Negrete, for this to be achieved, the Altán Redes concession must be modified.
“The nature of the company is not to offer retail services, it cannot provide telecommunications services to the end user,” Negrete said.
Another element that delays Altán’s profitability is the 5G offer presented by Telcel, AT&T México and Telefónica Movistar.
Walmart de México, which offers telephone services through the Bait Virtual Mobile Operator (OMV), is waiting for Altán to achieve this leap in technology.
“We look for the best alternative for customers,” said Beatriz Núñez, head of the Growth office for Walmart de México and Central America.
Being the fourth telephone operator with the most presence in the market, Bait is considering working with other providers if Altán Redes itself fails to migrate to 5G.
