He Federal Institute of Telecommunications (IFT) assured that it will responsibly assess the effectiveness of the asymmetric regulation that subjects Teléfonos de México to the sharing of its infrastructure and other regulatory obligations to promote competition in the fixed and mobile market, at a time when the rest of the industry demands the division of Telmex into two totally independent companies, one from the other, as the only solution to expand coverage, improve quality and lower prices in services such as telephony and Internet.
The regulatory authority indicated that the possibility of ordering a structural separation in Telmex is a measure contemplated since 2017 and was the result of the first biennial review of the effectiveness of the regulatory policy that has applied to Telmex since March 2014.
The IFT assured that while it resolves a new package of measures for Telmex, after this year’s biennial review, the fixed broadband market presents a growth of 107.6% between June 2013 and March 2022, the result of its regulatory work. to generate competition and concurrence, and of which the asymmetric regulation to Telmex is part.
In ten years of special regulation for Telephones of Mexicosaid the IFT, the rest of the industry has managed to gain 11.3 million fixed broadband Internet accesses nationwide, while Telmex, the so-called preponderant economic agent in the telecommunications sector, has managed to attract 1.4 million subscribers. that kind of access.
Ten years ago, the Mexican market had 11.8 million fixed broadband accesses, compared to the 24.6 million accesses recorded in March 2022, as a result of Telmex’s regulatory policy and also due to the investments that other operators have made in their own networks.
The president commissioner of the IFT, Javier Juarez Mojica, said that in ten years Telmex lost market share in fixed broadband. In 2014, the company had 73% of that business nationwide, while by 2022 its market share stood at 41 percent.
Juárez Mojica defended with this example that the IFT’s regulatory policy towards Telmex has presented positive results. “We are going to solve what corresponds,” said the president of the IFT about the partition of Telmex that the industry is demanding.
“We are going to review everything and with that we are going to solve what corresponds. The impact. That is what is relevant, reviewing the impact that the measures have had in terms of competition (…) We can see the data: in the fixed sector, from 73% we have gone to 41% in fixed broadband”, said Javier Juárez after introducing himself in the Conecta México telecommunications forum of the Informa agency.
Yes there has been a substantial redistribution in the market. Fixed broadband competitors have grown by more than 11 million subscriptions. So, these are relevant data that everything must be put into the analysis and determine what corresponds, but in its proper dimension (…) We are going to value with all responsibility and seriousness all the comments that have been issued through the consultations ”, assured the president of IFT.
The Federal Institute of Telecommunications is reviewing the effectiveness of a special regulatory policy that it created for the companies Telmex and Telcel in 2014, and with updates in subsequent years. The so-called asymmetric regulation had the objective of reducing the market monopolization that Telmex presented ten years ago and at the same time supporting third-party companies to increase the penetration of their brands, through their own investments and from the Telmex network, and in order to essential that the consumer could soon access new offers of higher quality, coverage and affordability.
The IFT’s regulatory policy has presented diverse results in almost a decade, such as the fact that Telmex has experienced a double-digit drop in revenue since 2015 and that other companies make use of its fiber optic infrastructure to complement their service offerings. video, when this company is expressly prohibited from entering the television business.
On the contrary, Telmex’s competition alleges that the so-called preponderant economic agent, as the regulatory policy calls Teléfonos de México, hinders requests for access to its network, in time and prices; and that Telmex still receives more than 50% of the income generated by the fixed telecommunications sector and that it is the leading player in fixed telephony and Internet.
Despite the effects of asymmetric regulation, in ten years, Telmex has grown its fiber optic networks by almost 30,000 kilometers and all its infrastructure has the potential to cover up to 129 million people in the country.
As of the third quarter of 2022, the company Teléfonos de México served 41.09% of the fixed broadband Internet market and 39.3% of the fixed telephony business, all nationwide.
AT&T and Televisa Groupas well as the Canieti which leads a thousand telecommunications companies throughout Mexico, asked the IFT to order the structural separation of Telmex, given what they consider to be high levels of market concentration that América Móvil still has, through Telmex and Telcel, ten years of asymmetric regulation.
