WSJ – Mexican radio broadcaster Grupo Radio Centro has failed to pay the money it had bid for one of the two TV concessions tendered by the government, prompting regulators to declare the tender void.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/mexicos-radio-centro-fails-to-pay-for-tv-concession-1428715301
El Sol de Mexico City – The outcome of the tender for two broadcast networks was not a failure, Saldivar Gabriel Contreras, president of the Federal Telecommunications Institute.
CNNMéxico – President Enrique Peña Nieto said that Internet users in Mexico have doubled from 21 to 47 million, making Mexico’s penetration second in Latin America to Chile.
Reuters – Mexican telecommunications company Axtel will become the first virtual operator on billionaire Carlos Slim’s mobile network. The arrangement came about as part of talks that ended a long-standing dispute about interconnection charges between Axtel and Slim’s America Movil.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/18/us-mexico-america-movil-axtel-idUSKBN0ME2Y920150318
Reuters – A unit of Mexico’s telecommunications regulator has reached an initial conclusion that broadcaster Grupo Televisa has substantial power in the country’s pay-TV market, a finding that could lead to stiffer regulations.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/18/grupo-televi-paytv-idUSL2N0WK08220150318
Sentido Comun – Sky, the satellite TV service owned by Grupo Televisa and DirectTV Group, announced an agreement with Mediapro, a European producer and distributor of content, to broadcast Formula 1 racing in Mexico, Central America and the Dominican Republic.
By Juan Montes / Wall Street Journal
Mexico awarded Wednesday two new national broadcast networks to two lesser-known local media tycoons, in an effort to increase competition in a market dominated by the longstanding TV duopoly of Grupo Televisa and Azteca.
After a long auction process, the telecom regulator said the new TV networks will be licensed to Grupo Radio Centro, one of the country’s biggest radio broadcasters led by Francisco Aguirre, and Grupo Imagen of Olegario Vázquez, who also owns Mexican newspaper Excelsior, several radio stations and regional pay-TV channels.
“This has been an unprecedented process to increase competition and pluralism” in the Mexican TV market, the head of the telecom regulator Gabriel Contreras told reporters after announcing the winners.
The auction generated great expectations as it was the first time Mexico has auctioned licenses to operate new national TV networks. But the outcome disappointed many experts, as only two companies bid and the winners aren’t seen as strong competitors in the short term.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/mexico-awards-two-tv-networks-to-local-media-tycoons-1426123082
Reuters – Mexico hopes to launch the tender for a $10 billion national mobile broadband network by early October, the country’s transport and communications ministry (SCT) said.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/12/us-mexico-reforms-telecommunications-idUSKBN0M800S20150312
Sentido Comun – Grupo Radio Centro, which owns 15 radio stations company, received a certificate of participation for the bidding process for two national television digital channels.
Sentido Comun – The Federal Telecommunications Institute, or IFT, said the termination of analog broadcast TV signals in Mexicali, Baja California will be on March 26.
Nasdaq – The proposed sale of Nextel Mexico to AT&T Inc. for nearly $1.9 billion has cleared a milestone, though competing bidders still have a month to up the ante on the deal.
http://www.nasdaq.com/article/nextel-mexico-sale-to-att-on-track-20150224-01460
Sentido Comun – Telefonos de Mexico launched a new package that responds to competitors. The plan offers consumers 100 nationwide calls without time limits and internet at 333 pesos ($22.37) per month.
Rapid TV News – Francisco Gil Díaz, Telefónica’s Mexico president, said the telco is considering buying a cable company in order to enter the pay-TV market and take on intensifying competition from AT&T and América Móvil.
Sentido Comun – The National Center for Studies Tepeyac, a company owned by newspaper owner Mario Vazquez Rana, chose to withdraw from the bidding process to create two new chains of digital broadcast television.
Sentido Comun -The Federal Telecommunications Institute is issuing a document defining points of interconnection to the public telecommunications network. The agency will receive feedback until Feb. 3.
Reuters – China’s third-largest carrier China Telecom is preparing a possible bid for a contract to build and run a new mobile broadband network in Mexico and is seeking local partners to join it in a consortium.