Mexico. In response to the consultations of various actors on the presentation of information and compliance with obligations, the Plenary of the Federal Institute of Telecommunications, IFT, resolved to modify some periods for the telecommunications and broadcasting sectors, taking into consideration the health emergency that our country is going through as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the telecommunications sector, the Plenary approved modifying the first transitory of the "Agreement by means of which the Plenary of the Federal Institute of Telecommunications approves and issues the Guidelines that establish the methodology, the periodicity, the catalog of information keys and the electronic formats with which the operators of the telecommunications sector will deliver information to integrate the statistical acquis of the Federal Institute of Telecommunications", in order to provide an additional period of 120 calendar days to the time originally established.
In this regard, several members of the fixed and mobile telecommunications services industry pointed out the complexity of complying with the deadlines originally established because the areas responsible for generating the information requested in the Guidelines are performing essential tasks to maintain the proper functioning of the networks and the infrastructure used for the provision of such services. This is as a result of the substantial increase in the demand for services associated with the health emergency caused by Covid-19.
Likewise, the Plenary agreed to modify the dates of compliance with two obligations established in the Methodology for the definition and delivery of information related to Performance Accountants, established in the Guidelines that set the indices and quality parameters to which mobile service providers must be subject, published on January 30 of this year.
Considering some comments from the industry that, due to the health contingency, the network engineering, radio frequency and network operation teams directly involved in the attention of the obligations derived from the Methodology, have seen the need to prioritize urgent actions that ensure the stability and continuity of mobile services throughout the country, the Plenary determined that the delivery of the audited report referred to in section II of numeral 3 of the regulations will be carried out, for the first time, within the first 10 working days of January 2021.
Additionally, mobile service providers operating their own management systems must store the conservation files referred to in paragraph 7 of the Methodology as of January 1, 2021.
On the other hand, for the broadcasting sector, the Plenary also agreed on a modification regarding the presentation of the technical, legal and programmatic information that the concessionaires of open television and sound broadcasting must present, usually in the month of June of each year, in such a way that, for the only occasion, this year it may be presented, by 31 August at the latest.
The Plenary also approved modifying the dates of submission of the reports on research and development work on issues of a technical nature that favor the better use of the radio spectrum, market research, as well as projects that are proposed for the introduction of new broadcasting technologies or the improvement of them, obligation contained in certain titles of broadcasting concessionaires.
In this regard, the industry said that, in the face of the health emergency derived from the Covid-19 pandemic and the preventive measures that have been implemented for the mitigation and control of the health risks implied by the disease, the concessionaires are unable to present the report in a timely manner.
Therefore, the Plenary decided to extend, only for the year 2020, the period provided for in the conditions relating to the presentation of the Report on the research and development work of the current concession titles granted under the Federal Law on Radio and Television, so that they are presented no later than August 31, 2020.
With these measures, the IFT responds to the requests that, due to force majeure, were made by telecommunications and broadcasting concessionaires to extend deadlines regarding the fulfillment of certain obligations; and gives certainty to both sectors to concentrate their essential efforts on maintaining the proper functioning of the networks and infrastructure used to provide telecommunications and broadcasting services.
