The Digital Transformation and Telecommunications Agency will monitor Altán

José Antonio Merinothe official who will head the organization, explained that it will operate under two arms: Digital Public Infrastructure and Digital Transformation. The first structure is where the telecommunications and broadcasting policy faculties are expected to be housed, which will be monitored and operated by Jorge Luis Pérez Hernández.

The new powers of this entity will be taken away from the Secretariat of Communications and Transportation Infrastructure (SICT), which until now is in charge of developing the Social Coverage Program to reduce the country’s digital divide.

But in addition, Merino’s department would be entitled to one of the most important and controversial powers at this time for the telecommunications industry: monitoring the performance of Altán Redes, as well as the commitment to pay for the use of the 700MHz band. .

Until now, the Telecommunications Investment Promotion Agency (Promtel), a decentralized body of the SICT, was in charge of promoting telecommunications infrastructure and supporting small operators to enable connectivity services, but especially, of monitoring Altán over its coverage, operation and payment milestones for the use of 700MHz spectrum, who right now faces defaults of up to 500 million pesos for this item.

With the birth of the Agency, the extinction of the decentralized entity materializes, which in the last month faced an operational weakening after the reduction of its workforce as part of its possible migration of its powers to the Digital Transformation and Telecommunications Agency.

Altán’s surveillance takes on greater relevance because in the last year the relationship with the State has become increasingly closer, taking into account that the company is already practically owned by the government as it only counts as a private investor: Morgan Stanley. In addition, the company that offers network capacity to Virtual Mobile Operators (OMV) has stopped paying Promtel itself for the 700MHz band spectrum.

However, Merino assured that transferring the powers of the SICT to the Agency will have benefits for Mexicans in matters of connectivity.

“The powers of the SICT in telecommunications matters when passed to the Agency will allow for better adoption of the Internet service among the population and thereby close inequality gaps in the country,” said Merino during the presentation of the Agency, in the morning conference.

The official did not offer further details of what it implies and what is planned to be done with the new telecommunications powers of the SICT, as well as those obtained in administrative-regulatory matters of the connectivity industry, and if the Agency will be the agency in charge of assigning the radio spectrum, as speculated a few days ago, the head of the Infrastructure Secretariat, Jesús Esteva Medina,

Until now, some regulatory and spectrum powers remain the responsibility of the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT).