Mexico’s telecommunications watchdog IFT has voted to allow America Movil to once again start charging rivals interconnection fees for the first time in over three years. The decision comes after America Movil in August prevailed in one of its injunctions against the 2014 telecommunications reform that sought to curb its dominance by imposing a zero interconnection rate. However, the Mexican Supreme Court ruled that it should not be barred by law from charging competitors interconnection fees, with the IFT entrusted with setting the corresponding tariffs. In a statement, the regulator said America Movil can charge rival operators nearly 3 peso cents (MXN 0.028562) per minute for calls to its network starting 01 January, while competitors can charge just over 11 peso cents (MXN 0.112799) per minute for mobile calls to their networks.
Although the court ruled that competitors won’t have to pay any retroactive interconnection fees for the years in which America Movil didn’t apply charges, the country's rival operators will now have to collectively pay around USD 20 million per year for every peso cent the dominant operator charges for interconnection fees, according to estimates from AT&T. The regulator was keen to emphasise that the difference between the rates charged by the incumbent and its rivals is among the biggest anywhere in the world and should be an incentive for competitive markets to the benefit of consumers. In addition, Mexican telecommunications costs have dropped significantly in the three years since the laws were changed to counter America Movil’s market dominance.
