Mexico telecoms bill approved

Mexico’s lower house of Congress gave overwhelming general approval to a telecoms bill that seeks to curb the power of some of the country’s most powerful businessmen. The approval, by 414 votes to just 50 against, marks the first big step towards introducing more competition into telecoms and television as part of a wider push to make Latin America’s second-largest economy more competitive and grow faster.

Introduced by centrist President Enrique Peña Nieto, who took office just three months ago, the bill proposes the creation of a tough industry regulator able to label as “dominant” any company with more than 50 per cent of the telecoms or television markets. It could then impose a series of measures – ranging from asymmetric tariff structures all the way to forcing asset sales – to limit those companies’ power and to make it easier for new entrants to compete more effectively. At the same time, the bill proposes to raise the legal maximum shareholding of foreign investors in companies operating in the sectors – to 49 per cent in the case of television and to 100 per cent in the case of telecoms. Analysts say that the two companies most affected would be América Móvil, the pan-American telecoms company controlled by Carlos Slim, the world’s richest man, and Televisa, the Mexican broadcaster.