AMLO govt to name 4 of 7 IFT commissioners

Mexico's newly elected government will name four new commissioners to the federal telecommunications institute (IFT), thus completing the renewal of the watchdog's seven-member board and potentially influencing the sector for over a decade, telecoms advocacy group IDET said.

The leftist government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO, pictured), whose coalition won majorities in both houses on July 1, will also name new heads to telecoms investment promotion agency Promtel, the state partner in the Red Compartida wireless wholesale network, as well as Telecomunicaciones de México (Telecomm), the state-run telecoms company in charge of the upcoming tender of the Red Troncal wholesale fiber optics network.

Telecomm also runs Mexico's Mexsat communications satellite network.

AMLO's team does not seek a "radical" rethink of the 2013 milestone telecommunications reform, which, among others, fostered competition through the entry of US powerhouse AT&T into the mobile market. Instead, the new administration will prioritize access for less privileged and more remote communities.

Despite notable advances in terms of services and competition in recent years, the country still lags behind several economies in the region regarding penetration of services such as internet and mobile telephony.

"The new administration will have a great capacity to define the nature of the Mexican telecommunications regulator and, by default, the programs and vision it will move forward," IDET said.

AMLO will ask congress to ratify his four IFT commissioners, including the replacement of current commissioner president Gabriel Contreras, starting in 2019 and ending in 2022. Each new commissioner will hold his or her post for nine years.

The new government will also name a new communications undersecretary who will administrate the Mexico Conectado public internet program which operates over 100,000 sites in schools, public buildings and hospitals across the country.

The Red Compartida project, operated by telecoms consortium Altán Redes, must reach at least 92% of the population by 2024, while the Red Troncal using 25,000km of high capacity fiber optic cable belonging to state-run utility CFE, will be tendered in October and will mostly be developed under the upcoming government.