America Movil outlined its case against rules unveiled in 2013 designed to reduce the operator’s dominance over the Mexican market, arguing certain reforms were unfair and led to a loss of business rights.
In a statement cited by Reuters, America Movil argued it had been harmed by the loss of its rights to “cost recovery, economic stability and financial balance”, as the Supreme Court considers potentially undoing parts of the landmark overhauls.
The 2013 telecoms reform law was introduced as part of a move designed to level the playing field in the country’s telecoms industry, increase competition and subsequently reduce costs for consumers.
America Movil said in its statement the “asymmetrical” rules, which prohibited the company from charging rivals for connecting their calls to its network, was unfair.
The same interconnection rules were not applied the other way around, and companies continued to charge America Movil.
“Asymmetrical does not mean free,” said the company.
Reuters added America Movil said those “zero-rated” tariff rules in particular had undermined the country’s telecoms regulator IFT and the rights of America Movil’s subsidiaries Telmex and Telcel.
It is unclear when the supreme court will make a ruling on the reforms, but Bloomberg in June reported a decision could slip until later this year. The news outlet noted a favourable ruling for America Movil against the interconnection ruling could mean the operator is potentially entitled to more than $800 million in back payments.
The 2013 reform led to the entrance of AT&T in the market, after the US operator acquired smaller players Grupo Iusacell and Nextel Mexico.
However, America Movil still holds approximately two thirds of the mobile market.
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