Mexico. The Federal Institute of Telecommunications, IFT, published its Statistical Report for the Fourth Quarter of 2015, in which it highlights that Foreign Direct Investment amounted to 133 million dollars, positioning the telecommunications and broadcasting sectors in the third place of the economic sectors that generated the most FDI in that period.
The report, which is available on the portal www.ift.org.mx in the Statistics tab, indicates that total private investment in fixed and mobile telecommunications during 2015 reached 65,800 million pesos, a figure that reflects a growth of 34.8% compared to that observed in 2014, according to information from the operators.
Thus, investment in fixed telecommunications in 2015 stood at 47,600 million pesos, a level almost 50% above that observed at the end of the previous year; in mobile telecommunications, investment was 18,200 million pesos, with a growth rate of 8.4% compared to the end of 2014.
At the end of the last quarter of 2015, the average total revenue index, constructed through INEGI's Monthly Services Survey, showed an annual growth rate with respect to Q4 2014 equal to 26.2% for the radio program transmission subsector, 15.9% for the television program transmission subsector and 30.4% for the channel programming production subsector for cable TV systems or satellite, which until the third quarter of 2011 was below the rate of revenue from broadcasting television programs and in the last five years has grown at an average annual rate of 19%.
As observed in previous quarters, the participation of the telecommunications and broadcasting sectors has registered an important dynamism within the economic context of the country. The share of both sectors represented 3.5% of the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as of the fourth quarter of 2015, which placed the services of these sectors in tenth place according to the North American Industrial Classification System (NAICS). Telecommunications GDP reported growth of 20.9% over the fourth quarter of 2014, while broadcasting GDP grew 2.9% over the same period.
On the other hand, while the National Consumer Price Index (INPC) increased 2.1%, its historical low, the Communications Price Index decreased -14.59% from the fourth quarter of 2014 to the same period of 2015.
The report, which includes figures in open data format to achieve a better experience in the consultation and management of information, details that in mobile telecommunications, subscriptions as of December 2015 were 89 per 100 inhabitants, of which 84.2% corresponded to prepaid lines and 15.8% to postpaid. This represented an increase in the number of mobile phone subscriptions of 2.6% compared to the same quarter of 2014.
Mobile broadband teledensity (BAM) stood at 53 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, bringing BAM subscriptions to close the fourth quarter of 2015 at 63.6 million, representing a growth of 23.7% over those registered in the same period of 2014. In addition, for the BAM service, 77% of subscriptions belong to the prepaid modality and 23% to the postpaid mode.
Likewise, as of December 2015, fixed telephone penetration stood at 61 lines per 100 households, which represented a growth in the number of lines of 3.7% compared to the end of the fourth quarter of 2014. 73% corresponds to residential lines.
Regarding fixed broadband (BAF), penetration was 45 subscriptions per 100 households, of which connections through coaxial cable continued their rise and reached a share of 33.2%. In addition, the segment of advertised speeds with the highest number of subscriptions was recorded in the range of between 10 Megabits per second (Mbps) and less than 100 Mbps with 75.7% of the total.
In restricted TV, penetration was 56 subscriptions per 100 households at the end of the fourth quarter of 2015, which represented an increase of 13% over the number of subscriptions reported for the same quarter of the previous year.
In reference to the consumption of television and radio, it was found that Mexico City was the Federal Entity that recorded the most televisions and radios on in 2015. The average proportion of TVs turned on that year was 13.8%, with 21:30 being the hour of highest volume of receivers in operation. The audience level of free-to-air television fell -18% compared to the fourth quarter of 2014, and restricted television saw an increase of 14% in the same period.
On the other hand, in radio consumption, the average proportion of radios on reached 9.4%, concentrating the largest number of units turned on at 10:00 am. The audience level for FM increased almost 3% since the end of 2013, standing at the end of 2015 at 9%, while for AM this indicator stood at 2.3%, without presenting major changes.
