The virtually elected government clashes with telecommunications businessmen

But as soon as the official began to outline the route that the industry will take in the Sheinbaum government, the atmosphere in the meeting room went from laughter to silence and concern.

Merino – one of the figures close to the virtual president-elect – assured that the State will have more participation in the sector, since the emphasis of digital policy will be on enabling rights and the internet is the key tool. To achieve the goal, the government will be more involved, than in this administration, in providing connectivity services where large operators do not reach and with the possibility of charging for them at affordable prices, even if this implies frank competition with operators. It will also seek to deploy greater kilometers of fiber optics.

Altán and CFE Telecomunicaciones e Internet para Todos will be key players, although further details of the synergy they will have as of October have not yet been offered.

“The State must protect public provision for all people. “Be an enabler of rights in its role as direct provider,” said Merino at a time when telecommunications companies seek to improve their levels of profitability and where the role of the government begins to bother the industry due to possible distortions in the market with Virtual Mobile Operators (OMV).

Another point that the representative of the elected government raised and emphasized, and that shook the industry, was that the State will be the rector and guardian of all public telecommunications policy, with a small touch of contribution from the industry and academia. The plan would be governed by the principle of horizontality to ensure that all Mexicans have access to the internet and mobile data.

“Today the Internet is a right and not having it is like denying a person in the 20th century not to study or access books. We can work with academia and industry, but it is important that the State be the rector and guardian of politics,” she warned.

The Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) was another of the topics that generated uncertainty among investors and commissioners who attended the meeting. Merino always referred to the IFT as “the regulator whoever it is,” without offering visibility into the future of the Institute in the next administration.

Each point was like a bucket of cold water. The faces of the businessmen said it all: a worried expression, rubbing their hands and light comments in their ears.

Gabriel Székely, director of Anatel, the entity in charge of representing mobile phone and internet companies before the authorities and who moderated the meeting, reiterated the industry’s willingness to engage in dialogue with the government to generate policies that help promote the sector, in an attempt to calm the nerves that had settled in the meeting room.

But calm did not come and the harshest moment came when Székely ‘assigned’ the official to review with the elected government the issue of spectrum costs, which has been placed as the biggest obstacle to increasing telecommunications coverage. in the country. But Merino assured that spectrum is not the real problem of the industry and then questioned the ‘commitment’ of businessmen in the sector to increase connectivity networks in the country.

“It takes two to dance tango. On our side we will have to do what we have to do in a regulatory manner, but on the other side there must be a real commitment to deployment and coverage,” said the official in his meeting with businessmen within the framework of the GSMA 2024 M360 forum.

Merino closed his talk by reiterating that the State is the figure that must guarantee the authorization of Internet rights without completely closing the door to the private sector. Expansión requested comments from the IFT at the end of the meeting with the representative of the elected government, but preferred to omit a position.