Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones

IFT Plenary authorizes and conditions[1] the purchase in Mexico of Grupo Nextel by AT&T

• Yesterday, unanimously, the concentration was authorized subject to conditions
• As a result of the transaction, AT&T will be the third operator in the provision of services of mobile telecommunications, measured in terms of end users
• AT&T must submit a formal written acceptance of the conditions imposed

The Plenary of the Federal Telecommunications Institute (Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones, IFT) decided to authorize, subject to compliance conditions, the concentration by which AT&T acquired the company Grupo Nextel in Mexico. As a result, mobile telecommunications service, AT &T will be established as: the third operator with the largest number of users; the second with higher incomes; and the first with possession of radio spectrum allocated to date. In terms of end users, the main competitor is Telcel, whose participation is six times greater than what AT&T acquired with the Grupo Nextel acquisition.

AT&T, through the acquisition of mobile business Iusacell/Unefon held in January 2015 of determined concentration yesterday, will accumulate on average 42% of the radio spectrum allocated to date for mobile telecommunications services.

The concessioned spectrum to companies of Grupo Nextel that AT&T will acquire through concentration, approximately 41.1% are located in the frequency band called “trunking”.

To use this portion of the acquired spectrum in the provision of commercial mobile telecommunications services, on terms comparable to those offered in other bands, AT&T will have to make significant changes in the infrastructure and technology of the existing network acquired from Grupo Nextel.

Therefore, incentives are identified for AT&T to make investments in the deployment and modernization of existing networks that purchases of Grupo Nextel, which improvements are planned in the supply of mobile telecommunications services in Mexico.

In addition, it was identified that in the short and medium term the current and potential participants, the interested in providing wholesale mobile telecommunications services and to end users can access to radio spectrum will be allocated as follows: 90 MHz in the frequency band 700 MHz (digital dividend); 80 MHz in the band known as AWS and its extension, and 130 MHz in 2.5 GHz band.

Therefore, the Institute determined that the accumulation of spectrum arising from the concentration analyzed does not limit or restrict the possibility that, in the short and medium term, other participants, current and potential have access to this input.

IFT releases the main findings of the first quarterly survey about consumer patterns, satisfaction elements and experience of users of telecommunication services

• The information obtained through surveys, will allow the IFT to identify the needs and interests users of mobile services, fixed telephony, restricted TV and Internet
• 4,017 telephone and face to face interviews were applied based on a representative random sampling across the country, between December 2014 and January 2015

The Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) presents its first quarterly survey to find consumption patterns, elements of satisfaction and telecommunications user experience, which provides information about the services that users receive in the country.

The survey was conducted by telephone and 4,017 face interviews based on a sample representative random nationwide between December 2014 and January 2015, focused on the mobile telephony, fixed telephony, restricted television and the Internet, in which users with disabilities are included. Databases of the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía, INEGI) were used associated with the last Census of Population and Housing 2010 and the database of the Numbering National Plan.

These were some of the most important results:

1. Six in 10 people do not make a comparison of telecommunications services that they want to hire.

2. In fixed telephony, price is one factor that users weigh more when they hire a service.

3. The recruitment process for the fixed telephone service has large areas of opportunity, it is regarded as "difficult" by at least 66% of the respondents.

4. Most users hires the fixed telephone service in one double play package to have Internet service.

5. The disappearance of charges for long distance in 2015 was known for about 80% of the users surveyed.

6. In terms of fixed telephony, the most important elements in determining satisfaction of the user focus on service quality, the price level, ease of making and receiving calls and the clarity of the bill.

7. Spontaneously, the coverage is the most important when choosing the wireless carrier element for both users of prepaid and postpaid service.

8. A third of mobile phone users surveyed said they have thought to contract the service with a different provider company, however, they have not do it yet because a lack of time.

9. About 50% of respondents reported using the mobile phone at least two hours a day.

10. For mobile phone service, users surveyed said that the more important items in determining customer satisfaction focus on the quality of the calls, the prices level, attention in terms of sales service and facility to send and receive text messages.

11. About 90% of Internet users surveyed said they used this service at least two hours daily. However, when users connect outside home, 62% use up to two hours maximum.

12. 38.6% of users surveyed are using the public Wi-Fi to access the Internet from their mobile.

13. With regard to Internet service, the most important elements to determine the user satisfaction focus on the quality of the video playback and overall quality, and the level of prices and service continuity.

14. 70% of those surveyed said that at least two hours a day, watch restricted television at home.

15. With regard to the restricted television service, the most important elements to determine the user satisfaction focus on service quality, the prices level and the availability of additional pay services.

The information obtained through surveys, will allow the IFT to have a diagnosis target on the needs and interests of users of mobile services, fixed telephony, restricted TV and Internet.

The report describes the main results of the survey is available on the IFT webpage: www.ift.org.mx