Mexican telco SOS Telecommunications has filed a motion against transport and communications minister Juan Molinar and members of telecoms regulator Cofetel for allegedly violating a suspension order preventing the award of a mobile telephony concession…
Mexican telco SOS Telecommunications has filed a motion against transport and communications minister Juan Molinar and members of telecoms regulator Cofetel for allegedly violating a suspension order preventing the award of a mobile telephony concession license, local paper La Jornada reported.
SOS is a subsidiary of mobile operator Iusacell, which has filed a series of injunctions against the licence award. The ministry and telecoms regulator Cofetel had hoped that the announcement of the award of the licence would finally draw a line under the whole matter – but SOS’ suit has shown that this process will rumble on for at least a few more months.
Last week Salvador Rocha, a lawyer for Grupo Salinas, the controlling entity behind Iusacell was reported saying that the legal battle was “just beginning”, suggesting that future action could even include charges being brought against the government officials that awarded the licence.
It seems that Grupo Salinas has come good on its threat.
The award of the licence to Nextel/Televisa on 16 August generated controversy as Nextel/Televisa won with a low bid of around US$14m compared to some US$400m paid by Telefónica and America Móvil for equivalent amounts of spectrum.
Iusacell was disqualified from the auction for failing to comply with some of the bidding rules.
