Mexico. On the occasion of several public pronouncements on the Tender of 4 sound broadcasting frequencies in AM and FM, which is being advanced by the Federal Institute of Telecommunications, IFT, the entity clarified the following points:
- The IFT-4 Tender aims to assign radio frequencies through a public tender, for the first time in the history of our country, and has been carried out with full transparency, with the accompaniment of a social witness and in accordance with the Bidding Rules. Since its inception, its development has been publicly reported on at least 17 occasions through press releases.
- The Bidding Rules, which were submitted to the public on December 18, 2015 and approved by the IFT Plenary on June 14, 2016, clearly established the requirements that had to be accredited according to the law in order to participate. Specific information was also required to identify the economic interest groups of the participants, in order to avoid problems in the field of economic competition.
- On January 13, 2017, in accordance with the deadlines and procedures provided for in the Bidding Rules, the IFT decided to grant certificates of participation to only 167 of the 421 interested parties, after verifying that they met the established requirements. In all these cases, the Ministry of Communications and Transport issued a favourable opinion in accordance with article 28 of the Constitution.
- Once the stage of presentation of positions was released, the IFT made public the names of the participants with higher positions and on March 22 issued the corresponding rulings. As has been publicly reported, the winners must deliver from April 3 to 21 the original documentation previously submitted through electronic means, and prove the payment of the consideration offered no later than May 22 of the present.
- With regard to the participant Tecnoradio, S.A. de C.V., since the Expression of Interest stage, which expired on July 29, 2016, said company provided the information regarding its current shareholding structure and its partners, which do not include Mr. Carlos Lara Sumano or Mr. Cenobio Alfonso Amilpas Godínez.
- The operations prior to the Tender on the shares representing the share capital of the participating companies are the sole responsibility of those who have carried them out. As can be seen from the Bidding Rules, the object of analysis of the IFT focused on the shareholders of the companies at the time of registration in the Tender and not on those who would have been in the past, which is consistent with bidding precedents of this Institute.
- Finally, it is important to emphasize that the action of the Institute in the procedure is based on the information and documentation provided by the participants in accordance with the Bidding Rules and the law, whose falsity is a cause for disqualification and the execution of the guarantee of seriousness, without prejudice to the civil or criminal liability that may arise.
