The secondary laws that add detail to an overhaul of the Mexican telecoms market are unlikely to be approved until early 2014, reports Reuters.

In June, President Enrique Pena Nieto signed a law designed to boost competition and curb market power exerted by dominant players such as Carlos Slim’s America Movil.

Two senior lawmakers said a 9 December deadline for the secondary laws to be approved is unlikely to be met due to a backlog of pending bills in the Mexican Congress.

In order to ensure that the detailed secondary laws are properly developed, they will now have to wait until next year, according to Federico Gonzalez Luna, a congressman who heads the radio and television committee in the lower house.

“The plan is to get them done as quickly as possible, but to do them well,” said Gonzalez Luna.

Hector Gutierrez de la Garza, who heads the communications committee in the lower house, added that the telecoms laws need to be passed in February as there is a deadline in March for the regulator created by the telecoms laws, Ifetel, to issue a range of resolutions.

Ifetel will have the power to break up dominant telecoms companies, with the secondary laws setting out the conditions for this to take place.

The delay in passing the secondary laws will give America Movil and Mexican broadcast company Televisa more time to defend themselves against the laws aimed at curbing their dominance.

America Movil has around 70 per cent market share in the mobile market (and an even greater 80 per cent market share of the fixed market). The company acknowledged in a regulatory filing that Mexico’s newly-adopted telecoms legislation threatens to have a significant impact on its business.