Now, to reverse the judge’s ruling, the IFT must develop a new prospective analysis of market trends and the consumption patterns of pay television users and OTT platforms. Based on this document, the degree of substitution or complementarity of the services can be determined.
Arturo Robles, commissioner of the IFT, assured that the telecommunications regulatory body will use all the resources it has to achieve its determination, and the first step is the development of a new study that will allow it to demonstrate the advantage that Televisa has in the 35 markets.
Robles did not specify if the investigation will begin this year or if it is already being carried out.
Substantial power refers to the ability of a company to unilaterally set prices or restrict supply in the relevant market without competitors being able to counter that power.
Goes for substantial power measures against Megacable
Megacable is another of the pay television companies that is being targeted by the regulator. In December of last year, the Guadalajara-based company was declared to have substantial power in five municipalities in the country, and one year after this determination, the IFT is already working on asymmetric measures for Megacable.
“The procedure to establish asymmetric measures (for Megacable) has already begun: the party is notified and it has the right to express its comments,” said Sóstenes Díaz, commissioner of the telecommunications regulatory body.
Megacable had challenged the resolution issued by the IFT, but it assures that this legal battle will drag on in time in the specialized courts.
“Any investigation or request from the authority, of course we will comply, but we are battling in the courts so that we do not have that substantial power ruling. But if it happens and you invite us to have an accounting separation, a fee system, we will comply. If they declare us with substantial power, then we have substantial power, although we believe that we don’t,” said Raymundo Fernández, deputy general director of Megacable, last October during a press conference.
The IFT began to investigate Megacable when the company in 2019 bought Axtel for 60 million dollars. The operation, authorized by the same Institute, involved the transfer of 1,370 kilometers of fiber optic network and the transfer of 55,000 clients, between residential and micro-businesses.
Then the IFT warned that Megacable would establish unusual concentrations in some municipalities of the country, but approved the operation as a way of generating a counterweight for the preponderant economic agent, Telmex-Telcel.
