Mexico. After the recent electoral process that Mexico experienced, citizens elected more than 3,400 positions at the local and federal level, where Morena was the winner. As a result, it is foreseen the formation of a Federal Government that will have a wide margin of maneuver for the effective achievement of its government project.
With regard to the convergent telecommunications and broadcasting sector, it will be crucial for the next administration to take into account progress and improvements, but also the pending issues and the mechanisms necessary to achieve its full and efficient development.
As has been pointed out in this space, a comprehensive connectivity policy cannot be subject to the temporality of a six-year term if what is sought is the gestation of optimal access conditions for Mexicans.
In this sense, the incoming administration must give continuity to the path traced by the Telecommunications Reform and guarantee the achievement of the issues already in progress in the current administration.
The team of the virtual President-Elect has recognized that the Telecommunications Reform has brought great changes to the telecommunications sector in the last five years, so it is assured that it will not be thrown back. Although they have also recognized that the Reform and its measures will be reviewed.
So far, the pronouncements and proposals issued during the campaign and the presidential transition period suggest that the policies to be developed in the coming years will have a focus on achieving universal connectivity coverage, but at the same time complying with the premise of an austere government.
To this end, it has been proposed to create a fund of $5,000 million pesos for social coverage, the review and improvement of programs and projects such as México Conectado or the Shared Network, as well as a probable elimination or rethinking of the Telecommunications IEPS.
At the same time, cuts in state advertising spending have been announced, which does not exclude the use of official times that will still be available to the government.
The intention of the next administration to comply with the state's constitutional obligations on connectivity is commendable. However, it is a mistake to think that a policy of coverage should depart from a policy of economic competition. Although the problems of coverage in the country also emanate from inadequacies in the deployment of infrastructure and other structural barriers, the availability and adoption of these services responds mainly to the lack of competition in the sector.
For the next six-year term, the achievement of effective competition is pending. Additionally, other pending in telecommunications refer to the achievement of functional separation, the effective implementation of asymmetric regulation and the certain verification of the backbone project.
To this are added the necessary tasks to consolidate a digital government and economy, as well as the generation of optimal conditions for technological innovation, through the promotion of investment, the availability of radio spectrum for new generation communications, among others.
Similarly, it is anticipated that the discussion around the regulation of internet video platforms, data privacy, the Internet of Things and Net Neutrality will remain latent. Undoubtedly, the telecommunications sector will require a joint effort that involves not only the State, but also the industry, users and academia, to attend and materialize the pending and proposals before the next administration.
Text written by Ernesto Piedras of The Competitive Intelligence Unit.
