Mexico: Following court order, IFT strikes down largest-ever fine

Mexico’s Federal Telecommunications Institute (Ifetel) definitively annulled the largest fine it has applied so far, for $410.9 million pesos (US$21 million approximately), set in 2015 against mobile operator Telefónica Movistar over service failures in Guanajuato; it also eliminated a penalty of $24.2 million (US$1.2 million approximately) against Megacable.

The decision was made after the Supreme Court (SCJN) established that article 298, subsection B, fraction IV, of the Federal Telecommunications and Broadcasting Law is unconstitutional, in that it establishes a minimum sanction percentage of 1 percent of the offending party’s annual income, yet doesn’t differentiate between conducts with serious legal or material material effects and behaviors with minor effects.

The court determined that the regulator unnecessarily postponed the receipt of evidence to delay the continuation of the next procedural stage, from which the count of days would begin to dictate resolution.

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