Mexico’s telecoms regulator is (almost) abolished

Details: Vaughan O'Grady; Category: Regulation; 25 November 2024; 12596 views

As expected, Mexico has gone ahead with plans to abolish a number of regulatory bodies, including telecoms watchdog the Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones (IFT). However, it hasn’t been the wholesale clear-out some commentators feared.

The country's ruling majority last week approved the general text of the constitutional amendment to abolish seven autonomous watchdogs. They include antitrust watchdog Cofece, telecoms regulator IFT, energy regulator CRE, hydrocarbon regulator CNH and public information and data protection office INAI.

These reforms to bodies that help to ensure government transparency could, Reuters has suggested, worsen tension with the US and hit credit ratings. In the event, some of the plans have been diluted. Mexico's lower house of Congress proposed adjustments to these reforms late last week to ensure compliance with the 2020 United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

The telecoms regulator IFT was a strong focus of these adjustments as its scrapping in particular is seen as very likely to breach the USMCA agreement.

The answer, it seems, will be to merge the IFT with the antitrust watchdog Cofece, creating an autonomous body under the Economy Ministry, while preserving its technical and operational independence.

The argument for change has been that streamlined governance could save some US$5 billion annually and reduce corruption. The opposing argument has been that it would strip funding from important projects, reduce transparency and oversight and concentrate power with the executive.

In the event, the adjusted proposals will now move to the Senate, where ruling party Morena holds a large majority.