Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones

The IFT Plenary approves the program on geostationary orbital positions to be tendered in 2014

• Regarding the 113° West and 116° West positions and their C and Ku-bands extended for the provision of satellite communications services
• Greater competition is promoted in the market and thereby better conditions arise in quality and prices for the benefit of users

At ordinary session of today, the Plenary of the Federal Telecommunications Institute (Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones, IFT) approved by unanimity the Tender program for two geostationary orbital positions for commercial use, for the provision of communication services via satellite such as dedicated data, direct home television and corporate links.

The geostationary orbital positions concessions, which will be granted by IFT through a public bidding process to be held during 2014, are: 113° West and 116.8 ° West and their associated C and Ku range bands, with coverage in the national territory.

The concession of orbital resources, - which rights of occupation were accomplished by Mexico in accordance with the procedures laid down in the Radio-communications Regulation of the International Telecommunication Union, is of great import due to it promotes greater competition in the satellite industry, providing wider service offerings in the market, which will generate that these provide better quality and price conditions.

It is important to mention that the last allocation of geostationary orbital positions in the country was conducted in 2005.

In the coming days, this Program will be published in the Federal Official Gazette (Diario Oficial de la Federación, DOF).

Furthermore, the IFT Plenary issued unfavorable resolutions to 14 requests for extension of validity of frequency assignments of official use. In 11 cases, the refusal was due to non-compliance of obligations arising out of the respective assignments; and in the remaining three cases, the reason was, that from the regulatory point of view, the bands originally assigned are referred for purposes other than the ones requested.

With these resolutions, the State recovers those frequencies of the spectrum and advances toward their rearrangement, in order to achieve a more efficient use of this resource.

In addition, the Plenary approved the quarterly report activities of the Federal Telecommunications Institute, which, in compliance with the provisions of the political Constitution of the United Mexican States, will be presented to the Executive and Legislative Powers of the Union, as well as posted on the Institute website.