The President of Mexico sent a new economic competition law to the Senate on April 25, 2025. Joint Committees on Radio and Television, Communications and Transportation, and Legislative Studies approved a Draft Decree establishing the Telecommunications and Broadcasting Law.
Key points:
- The Law designates the Agencia de Transformación Digital y Telecomunicaciones (ATDT) as the authority responsible for regulating, promoting, and supervising radio spectrum use.
- The Law will undergo review, with both the Economic Competition Law and Telecommunications and Broadcasting Law expected for a vote in June or July 2025.
- CANIETI assessed that if both Decrees are approved:
- Future investments may be discouraged
- Mexico could risk violating international treaties, affecting industry protection
- Future investments may be discouraged
Primary concerns for the telecommunications industry:
- Institutional arrangement with a single person reporting directly to the Federal Executive
- Granting commercial concessions to the Federal Executive to compete in retail markets, either directly or via public-private partnerships
- Direct allocation of radio spectrum concessions for Executive agencies without compensation
- Removal of competitive neutrality definitions, positioning the State as an exclusionary commercial operator
- Broad regulatory and de facto legislative powers granted to ATDT, potentially impacting competition authority autonomy
ATDT empowered to grant authorizations without public bidding, including for intelligent radiocommunications networks and commercial/industrial area authorizations