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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 MEXICO 001080 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FCC PASS TO EMILY TALAGA 
USTR PASS TO JONATHAN MCHALE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/28/2016 
TAGS: ECPS ECON MX EINV
SUBJECT: RADIO AND TELEVISION PROPOSAL FAVORS MEXICAN 
MONOPOLIES 
 
Classified By: MINISTER COUNSELOR FOR ECONOMIC AFFAIRS 
JAMES T. HEG FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D) 
 
¶1. (U) Summary: The Mexican Chamber of Deputies unanimously 
passed legislation in December to reform the Radio and TV Law 
and change the composition of the Mexican Federal 
Telecommunications Commission (COFETEL).  The Mexican Senate 
recently held a series of hearings on the bill and is 
expected to vote soon.  Although most telecommunications 
experts agree that major reforms are needed in Mexico, some 
question the validity of the proposed reforms because they 
seem to favor the current dominant players as well as give 
them a possible advantage over telecommunications companies 
in offering traditional telecom services.  Several officials 
and groups who originally opposed the legislation have 
recently changed their position.  Opposition parties claim 
many people are afraid to speak out because the special 
interest groups depend on major broadcasting companies 
support for political and campaign advertising and time.  End 
Summary. 
 
------------------- 
THE "TELEVISA" BILL 
------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) The Mexican Chamber of Deputies sped through a bill 
aimed at reforming the Radio and TV and Telecommunications 
laws.  The bill was introduced by PRI Deputy Miguel Lucer 
Palma in November.  According to press reports and industry, 
Televisa drafted the proposal.  On December 1, the Chamber 
unanimously approved it and sent it to the Senate. 
 
¶3. (U) The proposal states that COFETEL commissioners will be 
appointed by the Executive 30 days after the bill has been 
approved and published in the Diario Oficial, meaning that 
all the commissioners would be designated by the current 
administration.  Five commissioners will be appointed for an 
eight year term (which would prevent the next Administration 
from appointing any commissioners).  Senate confirmation is 
not required, but Senators will have 30 days to object to the 
appointees.  Previously, four commissioners served a five 
year term and appointments required Senate confirmation. 
 
¶4. (U) The proposed legislation changes COFETEL's regulatory 
powers for broadcasting but does not allot the agency 
additional power over telecommunications concessions and 
licensing.  The Secretariat of Communications and Transport 
(SCT) will still have discretionary power in this area. 
COFETEL, however, will be granted some authority over 
deciding whether a city or area needs broadcasting services 
once spectrum is freed up by the transition to digital 
technology.  The new spectrum may be auctioned off and new 
authorizations would be granted for a period of 20 years. 
However, a grey area exists in the proposal that would most 
likely allow broadcasting companies to maintain control of 
the freed spectrum.  Unlike current practice, SCT is not 
obligated to publish the program for auction and companies do 
not have obtain the Federal Competition Commission's (COFECO) 
approval before bidding.  Companies must only demonstrate 
that they requested COFECO's opinion. 
 
¶5. (U) There is some confusion over whether the new 
legislation also prohibits Mexican companies from partnering 
with foreign investors, including any neutral investor (i.e. 
an investment made in non-voting or limited voting shares). 
Under the current Telecommunications Law, foreign investors 
may own up to a 49 percent share of a company, but the new 
proposed Radio and Television Law forbids any foreign 
investment, including neutral investment.  Since concession 
regulations and spectrum allocation are not adequately 
defined, it is difficult for experts to predict who will and 
won't be able to obtain concessions. 
 
----------------------------- 
FAVORING THE DOMINANT PLAYERS 
----------------------------- 
 
¶6. (C) Econoffs and Econ Specialist met with Javier Lozano of 
the Regulatory and Technology Consulting Firm of Javier 
Lozano and Associates, S.C. on February 14.  Lozano is the 
former Undersecretary of Communications as well as the former 
President of COFETEL.  He considers himself to be 
pro-competition and pro-investment.  Lozano currently has a 
regular column in the Mexican newspaper Universal, runs a 
telecommunications consulting firm with four other attorneys, 
and is a close advisor to the Calderon campaign.  Although, 
 
MEXICO 00001080  002 OF 004 
 
 
he says he currently keeps his consulting work and editorials 
on the telecom industry separate from the campaign, he 
admitted that he is not sure how long he will be able to 
manage both successfully and without conflict. 
 
¶7. (C) Lozano believes the Radio and Television Law in the 
form passed by the Chamber of Deputies in December would make 
Mexico worse off in telecommunications competitiveness than 
if no reforms were passed at all.  He believes the bill 
favors broadcasting giants like Televisa and TV Azteca, 
leaves an unfair playing field in the telecom sector, and 
fails to strengthen COFETEL's regulatory powers. 
 
¶8. (C) Due to the bill's failure to grant COFETEL authority 
over licensing and concessions, Lozano believes that SCT can 
and will continue to delay issuance of licenses.  He also 
believes the legislation, if passed, has the potential to 
weaken the telecommunications sector by allowing spectrum 
that is freed up by the digitalization process to be allotted 
to broadcasting companies for little or no cost, since the 
legislation does not establish a cost criteria.  Most 
telecommunication companies have spent a considerable amount 
of money investing in spectrum and participating in 
concession auctions.  Lozano believes the bill favors the 
broadcasting services by not requiring them to make a similar 
sacrifice, thus giving them an advantage over 
telecommunication companies by offering convergence 
technologies such as triple play services (voice, video and 
data) without having to wait for concessions and licenses. 
Lozano also said the bill fails to promote competition by not 
allowing foreign or neutral investment and favors already 
established companies like Televisa, Azteca, and Telmex. 
 
----------------------------------------- 
OR ENCOURAGING TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT? 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶9. (U) Lozano's views are at odds with the Director General 
of the consulting company Economic Competitive Intelligence 
Unit, Ernesto Piedras, a renowned telecommunications academic 
and telecommunications consultant.  Piedras has also been 
outspoken in favor of the legislation because he says the 
bill groups Mexico's telecommunications and broadcasting 
industries under one legal framework, thus facilitating the 
Mexico's movement towards the convergence of technologies. 
 
¶10. (U) According to Piedras the bill took the International 
Telecommunication Union's (ITU) suggestion to have one agency 
regulate both sectors.  He said that it is also taking the 
Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) 
suggestion to require a congressional confirmation process 
for appointment of the COFETEL Commissioners even though the 
legislation actually states that the Senate may object to the 
appointment rather than requiring a formal approval process. 
 
¶11. (U) Piedras also claims the legislation will help 
jump-start spectrum auctions and push COFETEL and the SCT to 
grant concessions through public auctions.  Through the 
convergence of technologies like digitalization, spectrum 
will be freed up and companies will be able to bid for it 
through public auctions.  Although he acknowledges that the 
TV companies could use the spectrum freed up by 
digitalization for triple play services, he doubts that they 
will because he believes the size of the spectrum is small. 
 
¶12. (C) Lozano believes the bill in its current state has a 
70 percent chance of passing in the Senate.  He says the PRD 
is completely against it but the PAN and PRI are divided. 
However, with several key Senators harboring ambitions to 
become Governor (PAN Senator Hector Osuna, chair of the 
Telecommmunications and Transportation Committee, is planning 
a run for Governor of Baja California and PRI Senator Erick 
Rubio, also a member of the Telecommunications and 
Transportation Committee is planning a run for Governor of 
Yucatan) and impending competition for television companies' 
support for campaigning, all three parties have a strong 
incentive to see the bill pass within the next month. 
 
¶13. (C) Several Senators and Deputies conveyed their thoughts 
to Poloff in recent weeks.  Deputy Federico Madrazo (PRI), 
son of Presidential candidate Roberto Madrazo, admits the 
Chamber's version of the bill has several flaws but believes 
the Senate has the opportunity to correct them.  He argued 
that even an imperfect bill would be preferable to no bill. 
He noted that several companies were buying AM stations 
hoping that their concessions would be switched to more 
 
MEXICO 00001080  003 OF 004 
 
 
lucrative FM concessions once the bill is implemented.  Vice 
President of Congress Deputy Francisco Arroyo (PRI) said he 
is concerned that the bill will greatly strengthen large 
media companies, leaving them with tremendous power.  Also, 
he worries that the big media companies may associate with 
large foreign media conglomerates, facilitating a "back door" 
entrance for foreign investment in the sector. 
 
¶14. (C) Senator Gennaro Borrego (PRI) is still studying the 
bill to see if it favors the larger media companies, even 
though he admitted that they have a big interest in its 
passage.  He expects the bill to pass this session.  Senator 
Carlos Chaurand (PRI) says the smaller companies are at a 
major disadvantage if the bill becomes law but noted that the 
current law needs to be updated and that there are strong 
economic interests that favor adoption of the bill.  Senator 
Cesar Jauregui (PAN) seemed to be one of the critics of the 
bill. He says the proposal is a PRI-initiated bill, drafted 
by the big media companies.  He believes the PRI's 
introduction of the bill was the price they had to pay to get 
the media companies to back Madrazo this election season.  He 
said the legislation, if passed, will give more power to the 
bigger media companies and will cause a loss of diversity 
among the media outlets.  PAN Senator Hector Osuna, a major 
backer of the bill, has been criticized in the press as 
having a major conflict of interest in promoting the bill and 
has changed his opinion regarding telecommunication and 
broadcasting reforms many times.  He owns G Tel 
Comunicaciones, an internet company that currently has a 
concession to offer triple play services and already has an 
advantage over many other telecommunications companies in 
competing with the broadcasting services to offer triple 
play. 
 
¶15. (U) Academics such as Denise Dresser from Instituto 
Tecnologico Autonoma De Mexico (ITAM), a private University 
specializing in Economics, Dr. Raul Trejo Delarbre, an expert 
in Telecom and Social Policy from Universidad Nacional 
Autonoma De Mexico (UNAM), and Ernesto Velasquez, Director of 
TV UNAM and a representative of community radio stations, 
have criticized the proposal.  Dresser criticized Congress 
for supporting a bill that doesn't eliminate unfair practices 
and continues to leave power in the hands of monopolies. 
Velasquez complained that Televisa is distorting his 
statements to show that he and the entities he represents are 
in favor of the bill when they're not.  Dr. Trejo says the 
spectrum freed up through the digitalization process would be 
adequate enough for Televisa to offer telecommunications 
services and noted that there was a "gap" in the proposal's 
language that doesn't oblige Televisa to pay for the spectrum 
nor for it to be sold in an auction by the Government. 
 
¶16. (C) Econoff spoke with Nextel's Vice-President of 
Business Development Gustavo Cantu and Director of 
Communications and Institutional Relations Cristina Ruiz on 
February 24.  Despite being among several U.S. companies 
publicly named in recent press articles as supporting the 
legislation, Nextel vehemently denied that it is supporting 
the measure.  However, they noted that they are not opposing 
it either.  Nextel has declined to make any comments to the 
press and it did not participate in any Congressional 
meetings on the subject.  Nextel gives the bill poor 
technical marks but it doesn't want to fight the powers 
behind it (Televisa).  Cantu believes the bill will enable 
the media companies to enter the telecommunications sector 
more easily but Nextel doesn't want to say anything that 
would suggest that they aren't in favor of more competition 
in the sector.  Nextel said they have an agreement with the 
appropriate people that will enable them to have some 
influence over who is appointed to be the next COFETEL 
commissioners.  Cantu is positive that other companies have 
made similar deals. 
 
¶17. (C) When asked why CANIETI, the electronics industry 
chamber, abruptly changed its position and decided to support 
the bill after two months of complaining, Cantu simply 
answered "Televisa."  Jaime Chico Pardo, CEO of Telmex, 
recently told Econ Mincouns and Econoff that he believed the 
bill, in its current state would "weaken" the 
telecommunication's industry.  However, Cantu believes Telmex 
and Telcel are currently supporting the bill for the same 
reason as Nextel as well as for the most obvious reason - 
Telmex Chairman Carlos Slim is a major shareholder in 
Televisa. 
 
¶18. (U) The Mexican media strongly criticized the SCT, 
 
MEXICO 00001080  004 OF 004 
 
 
COFETEL, and COFECO for not commenting on a bill that would 
heavily impact their agencies' operations.  However, when 
COFECO and COFETEL finally offered comments on February 22, 
lawmakers felt the agencies comments were unclear and 
confusing.  COFETEL President Jorge Arredondo and COFECO 
President Eduardo Perez Motta said the proposed law fails to 
adequately address all the legal issues associated with 
concessions as well as transition to convergence 
technologies.  Perez Motta said it also failed to give any 
power to COFETEL to sanction violation of the new law nor 
does the proposal include measure to avoid anti-competitive 
monopolistic practices. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶19. (C) The media has nicknamed the legislation the "Televisa 
bill" and suggested that Televisa will benefit greatly from 
its passage by eliminating potential competition.  Lozano is 
probably correct in assuming that many interest groups and 
lawmakers are taking advantage of a time when most are 
overwhelmed with election issues to pass legislation that has 
so may deficiencies and special interest gains.  In addition, 
with the campaign season in full swing, no one seems to want 
to upset Televisa or Azteca (which also stands to gain much 
from the bill) for fear of losing prime advertising slots at 
good prices. 
 
¶20. (C)  The failure of U.S.-owned telecommunications 
companies to oppose a bill that could have significant 
negative future consequences for them is also a telling sign 
that this bill is backed by the most powerful players in 
Mexico.  It is also disappointing to watch them purposely 
support a policy that favors the status quo, i.e. the Mexican 
monopolies which they've continuously asked the U.S. 
Government's support in fighting for a more level playing 
field and greater access for foreign investment. 
 
¶21. (C) Although some suspect Fox may veto the legislation if 
it's not modified, it's doubtful that he'll risk alienating 
Televisa at the end of his term.  It's also doubtful that any 
Senator will want to risk their future political careers by 
rocking the boat at a time when all of the parties are 
deciding their political future. 
 
 
Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity 
 
KELLY