The following announcements were made by public government authorities in June 2017 regarding Mexico's telecommunications sector:

Public Call for Official Approval as Telecommunications and Broadcasting Expert

The Federal Institute of Telecommunications (IFT) published the Public Call that sets forth the basis for the official approval (acreditación), the requirements to be fulfilled, the schedule for the administrative procedure, curricula and the bibliography.

Draft of Mandatory Standard (PROY-NOM-218-SCFI-2017)

The draft of mandatory standard (Norma Oficial Mexicana) provides that telecommunications equipment with digital interphase digital to 2 048 kbit/s and to 34 368 kbit/s, (E1 y E3), to be imported, sold or distributed in Mexican territory shall comply with the minimum specifications and limits, the test procedures of the parameters set forth on the Technical Provision IFT-005-2016: Digital Interphase to public networks (digital interphase to 2 048 kbit/s and to 34 368 kbit/s) issued by the Plenary of the IFT.

Interested parties may provide comments to the National Standardization Consultative Committee within 60 calendar days.

Backbone Network Project

Telecomunicaciones de México (Telecomm), a Mexican government agency, published the summary of International Request for Expression of Interest (RFEI) for participating on the Backbone Network. Twenty-four RFEIs were sent by national and foreign companies concerning a potential bidding of an APP contract, technical matters, questions and recommendations for the operation of this network, as well as economical, administrative and regulatory matters.

Consultation for the Draft of Methodology for Accounting Separation

The IFT has released a consultation for the draft of methodology for accounting separation applicable to Prevailing Economical Agent, agents with substantial power in the market and shared networks.

The methodology has the purpose of providing information to strengthen the asymmetric regulation, identifying anticompetitive behaviors and monitoring that the shared networks are subject to competition neutrality principles.

The consultation period ends on Aug. 1, 2017.

Consultation for the Methodology for Economical Replicability

The main objective of this methodology is to apply economical replicability tests that allow to conclude if the price of the services provided by Prevailing Economical Agent to end users can be replicated by alternative operators when using its regulated wholesale services.

The period of consultation runs through July 14, 2017.

Consultation for the Draft Conformity Evaluation Procedure in Telecommunications and Broadcasting

The draft's main objectives are to set: 1) basis for simplifying the conformity evaluation procedure and the homologation of products allocated to telecommunications and broadcasting, 2) basis for an efficient and robust scheme of supervision of the certification, 3) the certification procedure of the telecommunications and broadcasting products, and 4) the assessment and opinion of the telecommunications and broadcasting infrastructure.

The consultation period runs through July 31, 2017.

Mexico Supreme Court: The Copyrights Protection Does Not Justify the Obstruction of a Web Page

The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation ruled that copyrights are human rights. However, the restrictions to protect this right before the freedom of speech using the internet shall be applied to specific content so as to be consistent with the principles of necessity and proportionality, and the obstruction of a Web Page is authorized by exception. Tesis: 2a. CIX/2017 (10a.) and Tesis: 2a. CIV/2017 (10a.)

Mexico Supreme Court: Freedom of Speech Exercised Through Internet

The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation ruled that internet is a fundamental mean for exercising the freedom of speech. Therefore, the restrictions applied to this human right exercised over a Web Page have to be compliant with the constitutional parameters implying 1) to be provided by law, 2) to be based in legitimate purpose and 3) consistent to the principles of necessity and proportionality. Tesis: 2a. CV/2017 (10a.)