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 Technology News | August 2006 
Analysts: Cable Firms will Help Cut Rates
 Fernando Pedrero - El Universal
Sometime in the first trimester of 2007, cable television companies will be allowed to begin offering telephone service in direct competition with Telmex - a development analysts and authorities say should significantly push down phone rates.
Federal authorities on Monday released the ground rules for the new "triple play" regulations, in which cable television operators and Telmex will be able to compete head-to-head in internet access, pay TV programming and phone service. The Federal Communications and Transport Secretariat (SCT), which drafted the document with input from the Federal Competition Commission (CFC), sent the plan to the Economy Secretariat regulatory committee for assessment.
"The biggest beneficiary will be the consumer," said Jorge Álvarez Hoth, communications undersecretary. "Among the operators, there are topics that they are unsatisfied with, but we are trying to take all interests into account."
FINDING COMMON GROUND
Telmex has complained that cable companies will keep their rates for pay television high and use the profits to subsidize the phone service and cut into the phone monopoly´s market. However, under the rules laid out by the SCT, the companies must factor prices for the different areas separately, which officials say will prevent "cross-subsidizing."
The cable companies, meanwhile, have argued that Telmex´s entrance into the pay TV market should be delayed by as much as 10 years, citing the company´s massive economic power. The SCT guidelines, however, allow Telmex to begin offering cable television programming soon after the plan goes into effect.
Álvarez Hoth affirmed that Telmex will be able to enter the cable market as soon as it meets the necessary conditions and it has the approval of the Federal Telecommunications Commission.
Another important aspect of the new rules for competition is the "portability" of phone numbers: Consumers who wish to change to a new phone provider will be able to do so without changing their current Telmex number. The new regulations will be published in the official government bulletin in 45 days, and cable companies will then have 120 business days to sign on to the plan and connect their networks to those run by Telmex. |
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