AMLO seeks to merge telecom watchdog with ministry

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) is readying a bill proposal that could transfer telecom regulator IFT’s responsibilities and personnel to Mexico’s communications and transportation ministry (SCT), which used to oversee telecom affairs before the watchdog was created in 2013. 

The administrative reform, which would also affect other autonomous agencies, is meant to reduce costs and end bureaucratic delays and luxurious practices, the president said at his morning press conference on Thursday. 

“I have a cabinet meeting on Monday where I am going to present the proposal so that each ministry can create its own plan, and once we have everything we can present the legal reforms,” he said, adding that he expects the topic to spark a debate. 

SCT eliminated last year its communications and technology development department, which used to handle some ICT topics. IFT’s role within the ministry is now unclear, but details are expected to be unveiled once the president sends the proposals to congress. 

AMLO has said repeatedly that autonomous agencies consume too much of the federal budget and do not deliver results. For 2021, the regulator requested a budget of 1.5bn pesos (US$75mn), which is 5.3% lower than what was requested in 2020.

ALSO READ: The unfinished business of Mexico’s telecom watchdog

At his press conference, AMLO said IFT has failed to reduce the telecom monopoly.

“Not only that, it turns out that the preponderant agents have more interference [capacity] than the president. I don't know any of the IFT commissioners,” he said. 

But the leftist leader recently sent a petition to congress to get Sayuki Adriana Koike Quintanar and Laura Elizabeth González Sánchez ratified as IFT commissioners. One new commissioner would take over the post that was left vacant in March and another one that will be freed this year. 

IFT’s board is made up of seven commissioners.

AMLO also said that among the series of proposals he will send to congress is a reform to guarantee that no public servant earns more than the president.

After taking office at the end of 2018, the president cut his annual salary to 1.6mn pesos, 46.6% less than that of his predecessor, Enrique Peña Nieto. 

However, AMLO said some officials, including IFT commissioners, have secured their bigger paychecks through appeals. 

This is not the first bill proposal seeking to dismantle IFT. In June, a congressman introduced a bill to have all competition watchdogs fused into a single agency, but his bill was heavily criticized and withdrawn shortly after.