In the latest instalment of the Mexican soap opera that is the award of a 30MHz block in the 1.7GHz band, the winners of the tender, a consortium of Nextel and Televisa, were barred from collecting their prize.
Maria Guadalupe Padilla Ramírez, chief…
In the latest instalment of the Mexican soap opera that is the award of a 30MHz block in the 1.7GHz band, the winners of the tender, a consortium of Nextel and Televisa, were barred from collecting their prize.
Maria Guadalupe Padilla Ramírez, chief justice on the Fourth District Court for Administrative Matters – a Federal Court – ruled that the consortium should be barred from assuming the licence, until an audit of the auction process is undertaken.
Justice Ramírez said: “As things stand, we have decided not to conduct the material delivery of the concessionary title [to the consortium] until there is an independent review of the process.”
Earlier last month Cofotel, Mexico’s telecommunications regulator, had approved the Televisa-Nextel bid, which the government of President Calderon had hoped would break Carlos Slim Helu’s monopolistic grip on the Mexican telecoms market.
However, competitors – notably Iusacell – and lawmakers objected to the decision as the consortium were the only bidders in the auction and paid just US$14m for the concession in comparison to US$400m offered previously by rivals in a similar auction.
Since then the head of Cofotel, Mony de Swaan, has had to face an investigation by Congressmen and the Judiciary over his competence to hold the position and President Calderon has had to jump to his aid to stem off legal action.
Nextel and Televisa did not respond to a request for comment by the time of going to press.
