May 6, 2020 / COVID-19 / Telecommunications
FEDERAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS INSTITUTE (IFT)
What days does the IFT suspend work?
Through several Agreements, the IFT has determined the suspension of work and on-site activities at the Institute from March 23 to May 30, 2020, due to force majeure.
Are time limits and deadlines suspended?
Yes. Due to the suspension of IFT work, time limits and deadlines corresponding to formalities, actions, and procedures will not run.
When will the time limits and deadlines resume?
The deadlines set by periods or calendar days will resume their computation starting Sunday, May 31, 2020, while the deadlines set in business days will resume their computation starting Monday, June 1, 2020.
Which formalities, actions, and procedures may be submitted through electronic means?
- Through the IFT electronic window:
- Tradename registration.
- Fee service registration (for telecommunications) and advertising spaces (for broadcasting).
- Registration of accreditation or revocation of a legal representative.
- Registration of domicile for notifications and service centers.
- Registration of ethics code (for broadcasting).
- Registration of ombudsperson (for broadcasting).
- Registration of accession agreement.
- Registration of interconnection points (if applicable).
- Through the Central Filing Office IFT email address (oficialiadepartes@ift.org.mx):
Unit of Concessions and Services.
*For information purposes, some formalities are described. However, there are 100 (one hundred) enabled formalities in total.
- Application for registration in the Public Registry of Concessions of the following formalities:
- Structure of shares, corporate shares, or contributions.
- Formalization of share disposal.
- Agreement/covenant entered into and between concessionaires; or between a concessionaire and an authorized/licensed party. Said agreement/covenant must be registered pursuant to the regulations.
- Notice of commencement or termination of the provision of telecommunications services and/or expansion or reduction of geostatistical areas in which telecommunications services are offered for single concessions, public telecommunications networks, and trading companies.
- Radio spectrum lease agreement, its amendments, and termination.
- Application for the concession of orbital resources and, if applicable, a single concession of telecommunications.
- Application for Authorization to exercise the rights to broadcast and receive signals and frequency bands associated with foreign satellite systems that cover and may provide services in the national territory.
- Application for a single concession for social, community social, and indigenous social telecommunications use.
- Application for a concession of radioelectric spectrum frequency bands and, if applicable, a single telecommunications concession, both for public, social, indigenous social, or community social use.
- Application for a single concession for commercial use.
- Application for Authorization to establish and operate or use a trading company that provides telecommunications services.
- Application for authorization of submission or disposal of shares or corporate shares of the concessionaires.
- Application for extension of deadlines to comply with obligations established in the concession titles.
Unit of Compliance
- Delivery of the report of network failures, whether total or partial, that make it impossible to provide the service for mobile telephony.
- Annual payment for the use of radio spectrum frequencies.
- Application for the attention of interference complaints.
- Report of digital television service failures.
Unit of Regulatory Policy
- Application for Access to the Electronic System of Interconnection Applications (Acceso al Sistema Electrónico de Solicitudes de Interconexión).
- Application for updating the identification data accredited in the Electronic System of Interconnection Applications registered in the Registry of Formalities and Services of the IFT.
- Approval of the reference offers of wholesale telecommunications services, capacities, features, and infrastructure provided by the wholesale shared networks under the terms of their concession titles and other applicable provisions.
Unit of Media and Audiovisual Contents
- Application for access to the multiprogramming or identity change of a channel that transmits in multiprogramming for broadcasting stations.
- Application for assignment of an available virtual channel other than the assigned one.
- Application for the availability of broadcast signals made by federal public institutions for their retransmission.
- Through these electronic mails: oficialiaai@ift.org.mx or oficialiacompetencia@ift.org.mx.
Unit of Economic Competition
- Notification of concentrations formalized in accordance with the Federal Economic Competition Law, Articles 90 and 92.
- Resumption of concentration procedures currently underway.
- Through the email address: atencion@ift.org.mx and the system “Soy Usuario” (I am User).
General Coordination of User Policy
- To attend, support, and guide the users who may have any deficiency in their services.
What percentage of IFT formalities can be carried out electronically?
Currently, 73% of the formalities contained in the IFT catalog can be carried out electronically.
What are the requirements to be included in the formalities, actions, and procedures carried out electronically?
- Indicate in the e-mail subject the number or name of the formality to be carried out and the administrative unit at which such formality is submitted.
- Indicate in the e-mail the formalities that need to be initiated. In the event it is a response to a requirement, indicate the number and date of the official communication by which the empowered authority made the formality.
- Attach to the e-mail the digital files, with a .pdf extension, containing the application form duly executed by the interested party or its legal representative who is duly accredited before the IFT.
- if the petitioners are not previously accredited before the IFT, they must attach —in digital file with a .pdf extension— the transcript or certified copy of the instrument accrediting their personality.
- The files attached to emails must not exceed 20 Megabytes.
Must original documents be submitted to the central filing offices for the formalities, actions, and procedures submitted through electronic means during the suspension of work?
Yes. Once the suspension of work finishes, the interested party or its legal representative will have a deadline of 20 (twenty) business days to submit in the IFT central filling offices, in writing and in a physical form, all the original and complete documentation was initially sent in digital form in order to formalize the respective matter, referring to the number registered in the Institutional System of Document Management that was assigned and notified at the time the action was taken.
What would happen if the original documents are not submitted to the central filling offices?
If the original documentation is not exhibited within the deadline of 20 (twenty) business days, it is incomplete, or it does not match with the documentation submitted in due time, the IFT may deem the formality as not submitted, without the need for a prior requirement or pronouncement.
May the IFT carry out inspections and verifications to telecommunications and broadcasting service concessionaires, authorized or licensed parties?
Yes. The IFT Unit of Compliance may carry out surveillance and verification actions to resolve harmful interference and other irregularities and disturbances to the systems used for the provision of telecommunications and broadcasting services.
It is important to mention the suspension of supervision activities in relation to the compliance with the obligations of the concessionaires, authorized and licensed parties until May 4, 2020.
Was there an update on the deadlines of the Annual Program for the Use and Development of Frequency Bands 2020?
Yes. The application dates for concessions for social, community, and indigenous use have been updated from September 21 to October 16, 2020.
Sources:
- Agreement through which the IFT Plenary meeting, due to force majeure, determines the suspension of cases in which the law time limits and deadlines, as well as its exceptions, pursuant to the Federal Law of Administrative Procedure, Articles 28, paragraphs II and III; and the Federal Economic Competition Law, Article121 and 115, paragraph II, due to the contingency measures derived from COVID-19.
Available at: http://www.dof.gob.mx/nota_detalle.php?codigo=5590465&fecha=26/03/2020
- Agreement through which the IFT Plenary meeting declares the suspension of work due to force majeure caused by the contingency measures of the COVID-19 pandemic and determines the essential functions in charge of the Institute itself, which continuity must be ensured in order to contribute —within its scope of competence— to the mitigation and control the health risks involving the disease from the SARS-CoV2 virus (COVID-19).).
Available at: http://www.dof.gob.mx/nota_detalle.php?codigo=5590787&fecha=31/03/2020
- Amending Agreement to the Agreement through which the IFT Plenary meeting declares the suspension of work due to force majeure caused by the contingency measures of the COVID-19 pandemic and determines the essential functions in charge of the Institute itself, whose continuity must be ensured in order to contribute, within its scope of competence, to mitigate and control the health risks that the SARS-CoV2 virus disease (COVID-19) implies.
Available at: http://www.dof.gob.mx/nota_detalle.php?codigo=5591276&fecha=07/04/2020
- Agreement through which the IFT Plenary meeting declares the suspension of work due to force majeure caused by the contingency measures for the COVID-19 pandemic and determines the essential functions of the Institute to ensure the continuity and quality in the telecommunications and broadcasting services provision.
Available at: http://www.ift.org.mx/sites/default/files/proyecto_f_acuerdo_nuevo_previo_sesion_rubricas_ecr_final_stp.pdf
- Communication from the Federal Telecommunications Institute: The IFT reactivates 73% of its formalities filed electronically for the benefit of telecommunications and broadcasting development.
Available at: http://www.ift.org.mx/sites/default/files/comunicacion-y-medios/comunicados-ift//comunicadoacuerdopleno10520.pdf
- Agreement through which the IFT Plenary meeting issues the emergency Guidelines to conduct the general orientation procedure through electronic media.
Available at: http://www.ift.org.mx/sites/default/files/acuerdo_lineamientos_emergencia_ai_30.04.20_v2.pdf
