Mexico. The Federal Institute of Telecommunications, IFT, resolved favorably to grant four concessions to provide the service of sound broadcasting in Modulated Frequency for community social use.
Three of them correspond to the authorization of the Plenary to transit an equal number of broadcasting permits to the concession regime provided for in the Federal Law on Telecommunications and Broadcasting (LFTR). To this end, it will grant, to each of them, a concession to use and take advantage of frequency bands of the radio spectrum for the provision of the public service of sound broadcasting in modulated frequency with the character of community social use.
The fourth concession corresponds to Calentana Luvimex, A.C., in the town of Luvianos, State of Mexico, which submitted its application last year and integrated the necessary documentation that was required. It is the first time that the Plenary resolves a concession for community social use requested under the Annual Program of Frequency Bands 2015 that derives from the new legal framework.
The application for a concession for community social use complies with the requirements established by article 85 of the LFTR, in relation to articles 3 and 8 of the General Guidelines for the granting of the concessions referred to in title four of the Law, and specifically with those that serve to prove its character as a community.
For the Institute, one of the basic foundations for granting concessions for community social use is the principle of non-discrimination, since the right to information and communication must be applied and guaranteed indiscriminately equally to all sectors of society and to all civil organizations that derive from democratic coexistence.
In addition to the above, the IFT Plenary resolved to authorize the transition of 15 broadcasting permits to the LFTR concession regime, for which it granted, respectively, 12 concessions for social use to use and take advantage of frequency bands of the radio spectrum for the provision of the sound broadcasting service in modulated frequency and three concessions for social use for digital broadcast television.
In turn, it was decided to grant a concession for public use to use and take advantage of frequency bands of the radio spectrum for the provision of the public service of sound broadcasting in modulated frequency in Matehuala, San Luis Potosí, in favor of the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí.
On the other hand, the Plenary approved 35 resolutions authorizing access to multiprogramming to Televimex, S.A. de C.V., Televisión de Puebla, S.A. de C.V., Radiotelevisora de México Norte, S.A. de C.V. and Canales de Televisión Populares, S.A. de C.V., companies that are part of the Economic Interest Group declared as AEP in the broadcasting sector.
These authorizations only imply an expansion of the number of channels of content that can be transmitted, which involves the more efficient use of the radio spectrum, since the applicants will introduce new programming channels, which were not previously transmitted in the main population to be served, which entails a benefit to the audiences.
