Mexico: New antitrust rules for Slim’s América Móvil

Mexican regulators have imposed new regulations on billionaire Carlos Slim’s América Móvil designed to boost competition in the domestic telecoms market, including a requirement that it separate some of its infrastructure into separate units, the company said.

The ruling by the Federal Telecommunications Institute came after an evaluation of the so-called asymmetric regulations imposed on América Móvil in 2014 after the company was declared to hold a dominant position under a sweeping reform of the sector designed to level the playing field for rival operators.

America Movil, controlled by the Slim family, has been subject to tougher regulations since 2014 as part of a sweeping sector reform aimed at making the market more competitive.

It said the Federal Telecommunications Institute ordered the company to create an independent entity from fixed-line unit Telmex to offer competitors access to infrastructure, confirming a Reuters report from February that the change was being considered.

The “functional separation” would be based on a plan presented by Telmex to the IFT for its approval, America Movil said in a statement to the Mexican stock exchange.

After describing what the resolution requires, the company criticized it, said it was analyzing it and that it will challenge the decision.

“The modifications and additions to the measures… confirm the lack of legal certainty and regulatory predictability in the sector,” the company said.

Alexander Elbittar, a researcher with Mexico’s CIDE university who specializes in regulation and competition, said he was not surprised that America Movil will challenge the resolution as a means to keep its legal options open.

Full Content: Reuters

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