OECD Telecommunication and Broadcasting Review of Mexico 2017

Consolidating telecommunication restructuring will help implement the digital transformation

In 2012, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published the OECD Review of Telecommunication Policy and Regulation in Mexico. Of the 31 recommendations contained in the document, Mexico has implemented 28.

The telecommunications reform that Mexico carried out in 2013 has provided tangible benefits. It has fostered greater competition resulting in lower broadband costs, which have shifted from being one of the highest to one of the lowest of all advanced economies.

According to the new OECD Telecommunication and Broadcasting Review of Mexico 2017, the nation must now consolidate this telecommunication and broadcasting restructuring so citizens, businesses, and the economy in general may take full advantage of the digital transformation.

According to the OECD, “The country should make changes to public policies, regulations, and the legal framework in order to further increase the competition, options and quality for users, while guaranteeing optimal marketing conditions and offering incentives for telecommunications providers to expand their services and innovation. This makes it necessary to ensure that the Federal Telecommunications Institute maintains its independence and authority so it may fulfill its purpose.”

This infographic summarizes the keys aspects of the review:

Other recommendations:

• Assess how to reduce regulatory restrictions on predominant telecommunications providers as soon as possible in light of the successful implementation of the functional separation of the wholesale and retail divisions of fixed services for this group.

• Address the inequality in Internet access among federal entities by reducing the obstacles in deploying the infrastructure on a local and municipal level as well as by simplifying any excessively complex or divergent regulations.

• Improve the operation of the existing Internet exchange point (IXP) and enable new IXPs throughout the country.

• Further reduce the barriers to foreign investment by eliminating the latest broadcasting industry restrictions and modifying the requirements to invest in communication services via satellite.

• Foster greater competition in restricted television (for example, by eliminating existing fast-track laws for mergers and acquisitions between non-predominant agents).

• Eliminate the IEPS (Impuesto Especial de Productos y Servicios, or Special Tax on Production and Services) that is currently applied to mobile phone and restricted television services, as a measure to stimulate the access to and use of these services.

The entire report is available at this link.