Background on Key Players
The Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones (IFT) is a Mexican autonomous regulatory body responsible for overseeing telecommunications services in the country. With a reform to the constitution, more than 1,200 employees from both base and confianza categories will lose their jobs once the IFT is officially dissolved. This change will occur after the Senate of the Republic approves five new members for the Comisión Reguladora.
The Agencia para la Transformación Digital (ATDT) has been formally established, though it has been administratively operational for six months. Its leadership, including José Antonio Peña Merino, was previously hosted by Zaira Ivette Pérez Salinas in Promtel. In return, Pérez Salinas was appointed as the general director of Altan Redes.
Recruitment and Concerns
The ATDT has started recruiting mid-level managers and technical personnel through various digital platforms. However, only a handful of IFT’s professional service employees have been contacted for the new entity. Among them is Tania Villa Trápala, who represented Mexico at the International Telecommunication Union and played a significant role in the autonomous body.
Villa Trápala, proudly from Itamba, studied on a scholarship there and pursued postgraduate studies in Europe: first in Sweden for a master’s degree in wireless systems, and then in Paris for her doctorate in electronics and communications. After brief stints in academia and the private sector, she joined the IFT as an advisor to then commissioner Adriana Labardini.
Currently, Villa Trápala serves as a liaison for the ATDT transition. On the IFT side, Executive Coordinator Víctor Rodríguez Hilario works alongside her. Both have been targeted for allegedly compromising the integrity and legitimacy of the transition process, driven by personal interests.
Rodríguez Hilario’s Career
With two decades of experience in telecommunications regulatory bodies, Rodríguez Hilario is an economist from Monterrey (UANL) with postgraduate studies from the Colegio de México. He began his career at the now-defunct Cofetel and took on the executive coordination role three years ago after serving in the Unidad de Política Regulatoria.
During his time in the latter, he supervised Villa Trápala, who was the director of regulatory technical analysis at UPR and replaced him when Commission President Javier Juárez Mojica appointed him to head the body defining asymmetric measures for dominant economic agents in the sector, namely Grupo Televisa and América Móvil.
Transition Challenges
The transition to the new Comisión Reguladora has just begun following the publication of the new Ley’s decree. Rodríguez and Villa are in charge of administrative processes, including the formation of the new workforce.
Some voices within the IFT have accused Rodríguez and Villa of excluding 220 workers from “free appointment” who won’t receive severance pay, unlike base and confianza employees. They’ve also been criticized for a selection process that seems to prioritize personal connections and affinities over merit and experience.
Anonymous Denunciation
An anonymous email, purportedly from a frightened employee concerned about retaliation, was sent to the new ATDT head from a fake sender (Pedro Haces) using a Yahoo.com account.
“We are deeply concerned that the new regulatory body is being managed as a personal project, disregarding institutional channels and leadership respect,” the email states. “It appears to be operating outside the bounds of a state institution.”
Key Questions and Answers
- What is the constitutional reform’s impact on IFT employees? More than 1,200 IFT employees will lose their jobs once the autonomous regulatory body is officially dissolved.
- Who are Tania Villa Trápala and Víctor Rodríguez Hilario, and why are they relevant? Tania Villa Trápala is a prominent IFT professional who represented Mexico at the International Telecommunication Union. Víctor Rodríguez Hilario is an experienced executive coordinator in Mexican telecommunications regulatory bodies.
- What are the concerns regarding the ATDT’s recruitment process? Critics argue that the ATDT’s selection process prioritizes personal connections and affinities over merit and experience, potentially compromising the integrity of the transition.
- What is the anonymous denunciation about? The email expresses concern that the new ATDT is being managed as a personal project, disregarding institutional channels and respect for leadership.
