Telcel will share its network with AT&T and Altán, but the measure affects users

However, the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) seeks to change this situation through a new regulation for Telcel. The subsidiary of América Móvil will be forced to share their network to counteract the coverage asymmetry that persists between its competitors such as AT&T and Telefónica.

Adriana Helena Cruz León, director of quantification of rights and obligations of the IFT, assured that the measure seeks for the subsidiary of América Móvil to provide a wholesale service called visiting user to close the coverage asymmetry that exists in the country and thereby guarantee services. of users, since there are times where consumers are left without connectivity due to this factor.

The lack of signal has become the main reason for complaint among consumers. As of June of this year alone, 3,479 Mexicans filed a complaint with the Soy User Institute platform, representing 43.3% of the 8,026 reports registered in said period. However, it was not specified which company obtained the greatest number of reports in this area.

América Móvil is the operator with the greatest coverage in the country, having 85% of the 4G network, while 78% corresponds to Altán and 63% to AT&T and Telefónica. This situation has led the regulator to ensure that with the provision of the Telcel network connectivity problems will be alleviated.

“Although coverage has increased, it is a reality that there is a big difference between América Móvil and its competitors, but now the operators will request the visiting user service for a period of up to five years so that AT&T and Movistar users have the telephone service and data where they currently do not have their network deployed or that there is no alternative network,” said the IFT official.

Less investments and connections

But for analysts this measure could be counterproductive and detrimental to users. Jorge Bravo, president of the Mexican Association of the Right to Information (Amedi), assured that forcing América Móvil to share a network may discourage the company from investing in more infrastructure to avoid becoming more dominant in the mobile industry. While for operators like AT&T and Altán this measure may mean that they do not feel the need to inject more capital to expand their coverage.

“This regulation creates a kind of parasitism because no operator will have an incentive to invest in their networks. And there is even a risk that the next step will be that Telcel will have to share its 5G network, when competitors have even reduced their investments in networks,” said the analyst.

Data from the regulator indicate that in the last three years Telcel has been the operator that has invested the most in expanding its network. From 2020 to 2023, the company increased its capital injection for its network by 21.5%. While AT&T and Altán decreased their investment 78.4% and 67.4% respectively.

This scenario, the analyst considers, only affects Mexicans. On the one hand, it seeks to guarantee coverage for users who already have access to the Internet, but it discourages the expansion of networks to places where the right to the Internet and mobile telephony is still an illusion.

“Mexico is one of the countries with the lowest mobile phone penetration in Latin America and these types of resolutions only affect users,” Bravo lamented.