Mexico: In regulator conflict, IFT comes out on top

A Special Court in Mexico has granted the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT), the country’s sector regulator, the authority to oversee the relevant aspects of the merger of mobile phone multinationals Nokia and Alcatel Lucent. Mexico’s competition authority, the Federal Economic Competition Commission (COFECE) had requested the IFT to hand over the case, arguing that the merger between the companies is really a matter of manufacturing, not Mobile communications.

IFT’s board, having analysed COFECE’s request, rejected the latter’s arguments, countering that while the deal concerns the manufacture of transmission equipment, these devices are in turn regulated by the IFT itself. The controversy was later sent on to a specialised tribunal in order to resolve the matter.

The Second Circuit Collegiate Tribunal on Administrative Matters specialising in Competition, Broadcasting and Telecomms weighed the arguments and sided with the IFT, declaring the agency fit to supervise the merger. The case represents the first conflict between these two independent regulators.

Source: El Financiero

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