Mexico. Last week, during one of the morning conferences, the president announced that an initiative was being worked on to disappear autonomous bodies. Among the entities that are planned to be eliminated are the INAI, COFECE, the CNDH and the Federal Institute of Telecommunications (IFT).
In the specific case of the theme of this column, it is intended that the IFT be absorbed by the SCT, which would clearly be a clear setback in the regulatory specialization that has been achieved since 2014 since the SCT is responsible for executing public policy, while the IFT is responsible for regulating the markets and competition in the sector.
The effect that an action of this nature would have in the medium and long term would be negative in markets that today are fundamental and that have even become more relevant in the face of the pandemic for which we are studying.
In addition, the elimination of the IFT would be in violation of the Mexican Constitution and represents a clear sign of centralization of power and regulatory decisions of the markets, something that at the international level would not be well seen and that would also violate Mexico's compliance with certain international obligations, such as the USMCA. This stipulates the obligation to ensure competitive markets, through an entity totally independent of the public administration that regulates in a correct and effective way the telecommunications and broadcasting markets.
As if that were not enough, last year, as part of the restructuring of the federal government, the Undersecretariat of Communications and Technological Development of the Secretariat of Communications and Transportation (SCT) was eliminated, a unit whose main task was to promote the deployment of telecommunications and broadcasting infrastructure throughout the national territory, as well as the search for strategies to reduce the digital divide in the country. promoting programs for internet access and skills development for the most vulnerable population.
In my view, the President has not been well informed about the benefits to the country of having these bodies. The government will have to assess the setback that the elimination of these agencies would represent, because beyond a possible saving of resources in the short term, it would imply great losses in the welfare of consumers and would return to conditions of extremely concentrated markets of which perhaps today we no longer remember.
Although the results of the market preponderance measures have not been reflected in terms of market devolution, the IFT certainly represents a necessary body and a counterweight to safeguarding users' rights. In the last 7 years the penetration of services has increased significantly and the prices of services have decreased considerably, however, there is still a lot of disconnected population that in the middle of the pandemic are limited their opportunities to enter the digital world with the multiple advantages that this implies.
Text written by Gonzalo Rojon of The Competitive Intelligence Unit, CIU.
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