Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones

The Plenary of Federal Telecommunications Institute (Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones, IFT) approves new policy for the transition to Digital Terrestrial Television (Televisión Digital Terrestre, TDT)

• It defines the guidelines to be followed by concessionaires and permit holders to terminate the transmission of analogue signals by 31^st December 2015, at the latest
• The document issued includes comments and opinions set forth by those who participated in the public consultation carried out on July 18th of the present year
• It adjusts to the provisions contained in the new legal framework
• The Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) rejects the proposal of Commissioners Estavillo and Labardini to promote a constitutional dispute against the Federal Telecommunications and Broadcasting Law
• It imposes an asset loss sanction and declaratory in favor of the Nation against three users of radio spectrum, who do not have a concession or permit.

With the purpose of making the corresponding adjustments based on the provisions of the constitutional reform of June 2013 and the Federal Telecommunications and Broadcasting Law, the Plenary of Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) issued today the new policy for the transition to Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT), which established the guidelines to be followed by the concessionaires and permit holders of this service to terminate the transmission of the analogue television signals by December 31^st 2015, at the latest.

The document, approved during the ordinary meeting of the Plenary today, incorporates comments and opinions received during the public consultation process carried out by this Institute from July 18th to August 8th of the present year, receiving 57 contributions on the contents of the project.

Therefore, the new DTT Policy establishes the requirements for the IFT to order the analogical outage, including the one achieved at receptors and decoders penetration level, capable of receiving digital transmissions in 90% or more of the low-income households defined by the Ministry of Social Development (Secretaría de Desarrollo Social, SEDESOL) in every coverage area, that is to say, in the total service areas of every television station of the country and their shadow zones complementary equipment where analogical transmissions take place.

Likewise, the DTT Policy defines the mechanisms and the coordination between the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) and the Ministry of Communications and Transportation (Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes, SCT) – in charge of implementing the programs and related actions to the delivery of digital receptors— so the Ministry can provide the Institute the information of the low-income households specified by SEDESOL, such as:

a) Number of households by analogical transmission coverage area,

b) Number of households capable of receiving digital transmissions by coverage area where analogical transmissions are performed, and

c) The penetration percentage of digital receptors and decoders in households in every coverage area where analogical transmissions are performed.

Given the situation, and in order to offer legal certainty and security to concessionaires and permit holders of broadcasted television, the DTT Policy establishes that when the Institute determines the compliance of the abovementioned requirements, this regulating body shall agree on the analogical outage date and the resolution shall be notified through the Federal Official Gazette (Diario Oficial de la Federación, DOF).

As for multiprogramming, the systems allowing the transmission of more than one channel in the same transmission station, the DTT Policy states that concessionaires and permit holders who want to use it shall comply with the provisions of the Federal Telecommunications and Broadcasting Law and the relevant guidelines set by the Institute.

According to the constitutional mandate, broadcasted television concessionaires and permit holders shall return to the State the channels (frequencies) where they transmitted analogically as soon as the digitalization process is completed.

With the purpose of ensuring the continuity of television services, concessionaires and permit holders are obliged to replicate with their DTT transmissions their analogical signal coverage area using complementary shadow zone equipment.

The Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) shall perform the necessary actions to properly inform the population about the transition to DTT, specifying the date and time the analogical transmission will end in coordination with Government Agencies. Likewise, service concessionaires and permit holders will also be obliged to implement campaigns to inform their corresponding audiences about the process in a timely manner.

The Institute shall survey the fulfillment of the obligations derived from the DTT transition and shall sanction, according to the terms of the Federal Telecommunications and Broadcasting Law , the concessionaires and permit holders of broadcasted television who do not fully comply with the obligations.

By issuing this Policy, the Agreement to adopt the Digital Terrestrial Television Technological Standard is repealed in favor of the Policy for the Transition to Digital Terrestrial Television in Mexico, published in the DOF on July 2nd 2004, and its last modification was published on May 7th 2014.

On the other hand, in the session held today, the Plenary of Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT), rejected with five votes the proposal set forth by Commissioners Maria Elena Estavillo and Adriana Labardini to submit a constitutional dispute against some articles of the Federal Telecommunications and Broadcasting Law and the Federal Metrology and Standardization Law.

Regarding other issues, as a result of the verification and supervision activities performed by the Institute to ensure the proper use of the radio spectrum, three cases were identified for using frequencies of the radio spectrum without previous concession or license. The Institute decided to impose a sanction and declare the loss of the equipment and assets in favor of the Nation.