Mexico is the only country in Latin America that does not have full convergence of telecommunications services.
Convergence is the technological possibility of providing all voice, data and video services through the same network and device.
Sooner rather than later América Móvil will receive the authorization to offer the pay television service. The question is how much longer we want to continue in the convergent lag.
Delaying América Móvil’s entry into pay TV is a political decision that favors its competitors, but harms the digital well-being of Mexican households, users and consumers.
The Constitution says that telecommunications are public services of general interest and that the State will guarantee that they are provided under conditions of convergence, but we have been missing a constitutional mandate for almost nine years.
The authorization of the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) for Claro TV (a subsidiary of América Móvil) to offer restricted television does not put economic competition at risk; on the contrary, it will make it more dynamic and neither the regulator nor the government can be against it.
Televisa concentrates 64% of the total pay TV subscribers. Megacable, Dish and Totalplay also offer the service.
Claro TV’s entry into the market would generate converging competition without putting the market at risk, for the simple reason that Televisa and three other providers monopolize it.
The concentration index of the restricted television service is the only one that grew 16.6% from June 2013 to December 2020. The other indices for mobile, fixed telephony and Internet access decreased in the same period.
The pay television price index has also risen 24.6% in the same period, while the mobile telephony price index has dropped 43.9 percent.
The high concentration and the constant rise in prices in the pay TV service is explained by political and regulatory protectionism preventing América Móvil from entering the market.
In November 2020, Televisa was declared to have substantial market power in pay television; The best, most effective and most economical regulatory and asymmetric measure that the IFT can impose is to place a competitor in front of it.
The authorization for Claro TV will reduce the prices of telecommunications services by offering them in convergent voice, data and video packages.
Convergence and restricted TV can reach low-income households with offers and packages that include telephony, broadband and social television.
Users of telecommunications services have the right to choose the service, provider, package, plan or rate that best suits their needs; the absence of full convergence restricts this basic right and limits the innovation of rate plans.
América Móvil committed an investment of an additional 8 billion pesos in the event that it is awarded the concession to provide the pay TV service.
This investment would be used for the deployment of fiber optics that allows access to broadband services and a faster Internet.
Allowing convergence to América Móvil means expanding Internet coverage and improving broadband access in Mexico with fiber.
More fiber optics prepares and makes the country more competitive and attractive for the future deployment of the 5G network.
Competitors would also benefit because they would have access to the fiber optic network to compete in markets where they currently do not have a presence.
The government of the Fourth Transformation and the National Digital Strategy should welcome the license for Claro TV, because the additional investment and convergence favor universal digital inclusion and the reduction of the digital divide.
Competitors will continue to oppose América Móvil receiving authorization and competing in pay TV with convergent offers and attractive plans.
The IFT commissioners must free themselves from the pressure of being criticized by those who control television in Mexico. No commissioner is against convergence.
AT&T is behind the concerns of the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR, for its acronym in English) that America Movil’s entry into Pay TV will be delayed.
The pressure from the United States government and AT&T through the USTR is an unequivocal sign that pay TV and full convergence are getting closer.
AT&T pushes through the USTR when it doesn’t even have a presence in the pay TV market.
The United States is a converging market and Mexico does not have to be at the mercy of its trading partner.
AT&T knows that pay TV and the convergence for Claro TV places it at a disadvantage against América Móvil, Televisa and the other fixed operators that participate in the 5G auction, but it would force the US provider to react and invest so as not to lose competitiveness and market.
Convergence should not be the privilege of some operators but a right of all users and consumers in Mexico.
Twitter: @beltmondi
President of the Mexican Association of Right to Information (Amedi)
in communication
Media and telecommunications analyst and academic from UNAM. Studies the media, new technologies, telecommunications, political communication and journalism. He is the author of the book media presidentialism. Media and power during the government of Vicente Fox.
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