Mexico. After different working sessions with representatives of the concessionaires, community radio associations, or the same communities, and after analyzing 31 concessions granted until March of this year, the Federal Institute of Telecommunications, IFT, determined, for the first time, to allocate advertising budget to 15 concessions for community or indigenous social use that meet the requirements established for this purpose and that are providing the service in the localities authorized in the respective concession.
In accordance with the provisions of Article 89 of the Federal Law on Telecommunications and Broadcasting (LFTR), the Federal Institute of Telecommunications (IFT), in its capacity as a federal public entity, will grant these concessionaires 1% of its Social Communication and Advertising budget for the year 2017, with which the respective concessionaires will have resources that allow them to offer a service with higher quality of radio content, for the direct benefit of audiences.
In relation to the above, it is relevant to note that the IFT is the first Federal agency to comply with the provisions of the Law, which establishes that this type of concessionaires may obtain income, among other sources, from: "Sale of advertising to federal public entities, which will allocate one percent of the amount for social communication services and advertising authorized in their respective budgets to the set of concessions of community and indigenous social use of the country, which will be distributed equitably among the existing concessions...".
It should be recalled that the same LFTR establishes that these concessions are not for profit, so that their holders must not pursue the obtaining of profits for accumulation purposes, and that the remnants of their operation may only be invested for the purpose of the respective concession. It also establishes the obligation of the holders of concessions for social use that provide the broadcasting service, to provide the Institute annually with information that allows verifying that the source and destination of the income adheres to the purposes for which the concession was granted.
