Introduction to the New Telecom Law Proposal by Claudia Sheinbaum
Mexico is set to receive a new legal framework for telecommunications and broadcasting this year. President Claudia Sheinbaum has proposed a bill to repeal the current Federal Telecommunications and Broadcasting Law (LFTR), paving the way for the discussion of the Telecommunications and Broadcasting Matters Law, which is currently causing controversy due to its alleged intent to censor and potential violations of the T-MEC.
The Significance of the New Telecom Law
This new telecom law is significant as it will define Mexico’s digital governance framework for the coming decades, making its approval in the Chamber of Deputies crucial after thorough discussion.
The 311-page document, containing 310 principal and transitional articles, began circulating on the evening of April 23, five months after a federal administrative simplification reform eliminated the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) citing inefficiency in combating monopolies and failure to reduce the digital divide affecting around 25 million Mexicans by 2025.
The administrative simplification reform, which also led to the extinction of other autonomous bodies like COFECET and INAI, implied the creation of a new regulatory body and a new legal framework for Mexico’s telecommunications and broadcasting industry. This led to the proposal of the Agency for Digital Transformation and Telecommunications (ATDT), a super-secretariat due to the extensive powers granted, though it would not oversee economic competition issues in telecommunications like the IFT did.
Key Provisions of the New Telecom Law
- The government reserves portions of the FM and AM bands for social, community, indigenous, and Afro-Mexican stations, aiming to enrich Mexican radio with diverse perspectives.
- Social, community, indigenous, and Afro-Mexican stations, being direct assignments that do not pay usage fees, must submit detailed reports on their board composition to prevent commercial radio from masquerading as non-profit organizations.
- The government extends its airtime, up to 30 minutes, for educational, cultural, or socially relevant content.
- The government’s airtime will be managed by the Secretariat of Government, which, in agreement with commercial concessionaires, will set transmission schedules.
- Commercial radio and television, as well as pay-TV companies, will be prohibited from broadcasting foreign government’s audiovisual campaigns, except for cultural or tourism-related content. Penalties will be between 2% and 5% of their revenues.
Telecommunications Aspects
- Digital platforms distributing content in Mexico and broadcasting foreign government campaigns can be temporarily blocked by the ATDT.
- The government reserves radio-electric spectrum for national security matters and can access frequencies for direct provision of mobile or fixed wireless services to the end-user without economic compensation.
- The new law mandates the ATDT to prepare a 5G spectrum allocation plan within 180 natural days following the new legislation’s effectiveness.
- The economic factor will no longer be the primary criterion for radio-electric spectrum allocation in Mexico, as social coverage promises, affordable prices, and operator innovations will also be considered.
- The Secretariat of Finance will no longer be the sole federal authority determining radio-electric spectrum prices, as the ATDT will only seek a non-binding opinion from this authority.
- The project reaffirms the Net Neutrality as a constitutional principle in Mexico, protecting consumer choice and promoting equal service scenarios amidst data traffic prioritization; it also mandates all telecommunications networks, regardless of their concession model, to remain open for interconnection under non-discriminatory conditions.
Context and Relevance
The most relevant aspects of Claudia Sheinbaum’s new telecom law proposal have been outlined above. The discussion and expedited approval of this legislation in Congress have been postponed for better analysis that ultimately benefits consumers and the entire value chain.
The still-in-effect Federal Telecommunications and Broadcasting Law was the result of President Enrique Peña Nieto’s most successful structural reform, as Mexicans noticed price drops in telephony (49.5%) and a 95.2 million line growth in the mobile market during the IFT’s existence, recognized by international organizations as one of the world’s most prestigious sectoral regulators.
