Mexico. The Federal Institute of Telecommunications, IFT, held the Forum "Challenges of Competition in the Digital Environment 2019", with the aim of analyzing the opportunities and challenges that, in terms of competition and regulation, marketes face in the telecommunications and broadcasting sectors in the face of technological development.
Experts in the field, academics, members of the industry and national and foreign authorities, as well as public servants of the IFT discussed the challenges that the new dynamics impose on the analysis of competition, both in the evaluation of concentrations and in the fight against anti-competitive practices. Also, the challenges in terms of connectivity for all in an environment of competition, and in the light of alternative technologies of access services, such as digital, were analyzed.
The Forum was inaugurated by the Commissioner President of the Institute, Gabriel Contreras Saldívar, and the Head of the Study Center, Rebeca Escobar Briones; the Undersecretary of Communications and Technological Development of the Secretariat of Communications and Transport (SCT), Salma Jalife Villalón; and the President of the National Chamber of the Electronic Industry of Telecommunications and Information Technologies (CANIETI), Carlos Funes Garay.
Commissioners Mario Fromow, Sóstenes Díaz, Arturo Robles, Ramiro Camacho; and the heads of the Study Center, Rebeca Escobar, and the Economic Competition Unit, Georgina Santiago, participated as moderators of the tables during the two days.
The experts addressed the impact of digital platforms on the competition, highlighting aspects such as those associated with the analysis of services offered at zero price; data accumulation; the quality of services (including privacy, exposure to advertising content or ease of exchange and portability), and their effect on the sector and relationship with traditional services.
Likewise, the importance of competition in the development of digital services was discussed, mainly the providers of telecommunications and Over-the-top (OTT) services; the value of data in the digital economy, data markets and their implications, and the use of statistical data for market practices.
Participants also addressed the challenges faced by regulators arising from technological change. There was also a panel in which representatives of AT&T, IZZI Telecom, Megacable and Telefónica participated.
During the event, two keynote lectures were held. The first, by Erik Bohlin, an academic at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, who addressed the challenges of competition in converging markets and their implications for 5G policy. The second was attended by the President of the American Antitrust Institute, Diana L. Moss, who spoke about connectivity for all, based on an environment of competition.
Within the framework of the Forum, the Digital Divide and Business Models Seminar was organized, a space that brought together four experts from the academic, regulatory and industry fields: Sonia Agnese, Senior Analyst for Latin America at OVUM; Felipe Flórez Duncan, Director of Competition Policy and Litigation at Oxera UK; Erik Bohlin, Academic, Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden; and Jibirila Leinyuy, representative of the UK Secretariat for Digital Affairs, Culture, Media and Sport, to discuss and reflect on relevant current issues associated with regulated sectors and digital markets.
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