President Pea Nieto signs law to reform Mexican telecom industry

Potentially drastic changes will be made to increase competition among communications companies

Mexican PresidentEnrique Pea Nieto has signed into law some pretty strong legislation that aims to cut down on the monopolistic practices of telecom companies in the country. Taking aim at companies such as Amrica Mvil and Grupo Televisa, the law creates a new regulator agency, calledIfetel, that will oversee placing regulations on large companies in the sector to promote competition. Currently,AmricaMvil is far and away the largest mobile carrier in Mexico with nearly 70-percent of all mobile subscribers. New regulations will aim to limit the amountAmricaMvil can throw its weight around against the rest of the industry by eliminating its ability to have exclusivity for device launches and even setting rates for calls between carriers so that the incumbent network pays more to complete them.

The legislation goes so far as to give the government the power to force companies to sell off assets to reduce their advantage in the marketplace. Some may think these regulations are drastic, but given the telecom landscape in the country Pea Nieto sees it as the right thing to do. Competing carriers such asTelefnica-- which has approximately 20-percent market share -- are happy to see any progress made towards leveling the playing field.

Source: WSJ

Via: President Pea Nieto signs law to reform Mexican telecom industry