Article 191 of the Federal Telecommunications and Broadcasting Law Section XVI states that “in prepaid mobile services, the balance not consumed at the expiration date, will be paid in the recharges that are carried out within the year following said date”.
Expansion contacted the IFT, AT&T, Telcel and Movistar, but until the publication of this text they were not available to comment on the matter.
Do operators respect the validity of recharges?
The days of validity of mobile telephony recharge decreased in 2021 compared to the duration they had in 2016, according to the report on the evolution of mobile telecommunications service plans and rates 2016-2021.
In the study, the Federal Institute of Telecommunications details that the reduction in the days of validity is the recharge of 20 pesos, since in 2016 it lasted six days and in 2021 only two days, which means a drop of 67%, while the of 150 pesos in 2016 it lasted 29 days and in 2021 it is valid for 28 days, which represents a decrease of 3%.
In the case of refills of 50 pesos in 2016 they had a duration of 11 days and in 2021 they had a validity of nine days, which means a drop of 18%, while recharges of 100 pesos had a validity of 23 days and in 2021 they only last 20 days, a decrease of 13%.
In contrast, in 2021, it was observed that in the refills of 200 and 300 the average days of validity increased by 3% and 13%, respectively.
In addition, compared to 2016, in 2021, increases were observed in the number of megabytes included from the recharge of 30 to the recharge of 500 pesos from AT&T, Movistar and Telcel, whose increases range between 173% and 700%.
Need to empower users
Jesús Romo, director of the Telconomia consultancy, considers that it is not necessary to promote an initiative to eliminate the validity of recharges, but to empower users with respect to the rights they have as consumers, since since 2014 the Telecommunications and Broadcasting Law contemplates that the balance that is not consumed by the users must be paid by the mobile phone operators.
“It is necessary to empower users through the regulator, because the regulator, what is it doing? The IFT knows the adjustment (of validity), before they lasted 30 days and now they last 25 or 24 days, so the regulator must be called to see how he is justifying these practices,” says Romo.
He adds that eliminating the validity of recharges could have a negative effect on the tariff scheme, since through prepayment, telephone companies have been able to give access to lower recharge amounts, which allow price control. In addition, it has allowed users to access airtime more frequently.
“The prepaid terms exist to generate a flexible rate scheme,” he says.
The Federal Institute of Telecommunications estimates that at the end of 2021, in Mexico there are 124.7 million mobile lines, of which -according to The Ciu consultancy- 82.1% are under the recharge scheme and only 17.9% in the plan postpaid.
The predominance of the prepaid modality has taken a greater role in the country due to the economic situation that Mexicans face due to inflation and for which they must skimp on expenses.