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Regulator plans to review rules on market dominance in March.
AT&T has, over the past 12 months, often praised Mexican authorities for regulatory reforms that seek to tackle the dominance of market leader America Movil and have as a result made the country a viable opportunity for newcomers like itself.
But a senior executive at the company is now calling for faster change in the market, pointing out that the government’s two-year-old reform efforts have actually had no impact on America Movil’s market share.
The Carlos Slim-owned telco has more customers now than it did when the regulator introduced asymmetric rules designed to curb its dominance two years ago, Thaddeus Arroyo, AT&T’s Mexico chief executive, told Bloomberg in an interview.
"The real question, and it’s for the regulator to determine, [is] what additional conditions are needed to drive change faster?" the newswire quoted Arroyo as saying.
Regulatory body the IFT announced in March 2014 that it was moving to tackle dominance in the telecoms and pay TV sectors and later imposed a series of new regulations on America Movil and Grupo Televisa.
Initially, America Movil said it would sell off a portfolio of assets – sufficient to facilitate the entry of a new competitor into the market – but that plan never came to fruition. Meanwhile, AT&T bought its way into Mexico, snapping up third-largest mobile operator Iusacell and smaller player Nextel early last year.
The IFT plans to review its anti-dominance rulings in March, and may introduce changes or add new measures, Bloomberg explained, adding that analysts believe it may be too soon for anything other than fine-tuning.
Nonetheless, AT&T plans to share its thoughts with the regulator ahead of time.
"Even with our arrival bringing competition and beginning the ultimate transformation of the market, the share is still disproportionately unbalanced," Arroyo said, in the report. He predicted that "it will take years" to bring balance to the market.
According to the latest IFT figures, America Movil’s Telcel served 69.5% of Mexico’s mobile customers at the end of June, while Telefonica had 21.5% and AT&T 8.5%, with MVNOs making up the remainder.
In the fixed market, America Movil had a 62% share at the same date, followed by Televisa with 19% and Telefonica with 7%.
