Mexican Telecom Regulator Issues Number Portability Rules

MEXICO CITY -(Dow Jones)- Mexico's telecommunications regulator Cofetel released rules for telephone users to be able to keep the same phone number if they switch their service provider, which are expected to go into effect next year.

Number portability was one of the pending issues as Mexico moves to implement "triple play," where cable companies and phone companies can both offer voice, Internet and video service over their networks.

Cofetel said Monday that the rules - which also include mobile phone numbers - have to be reviewed by regulatory overseer Cofemer, and that number portability must go into effect within nine months after the rules are published in the Official Gazette.

There would be a period prior to that in which phone users could switch from Telefonos de Mexico - the country's biggest fixed-line phone operator - but not vice-versa, Cofetel said.

Telmex has to offer portability before modifying its concession to offer TV service.

Telmex was a state monopoly when it was privatized in 1990, and the Finance Ministry argued earlier this year that the addition of services to its concession would increase its value, and therefore the federal government should receive financial compensation.

The government has yet to determine whether or not a change in Telmex's concession would require payment.

Triple play, or "convergence" as it's called in Mexico, is expected to bringing about greater competition in local telecommunications, where Telmex controls more than 90% of fixed lines, and in the paid television market which is dominated by regional monopolies.

-By Anthony Harrup, Dow Jones Newswires; (5255) 5080 3450; anthony.harrup@dowjones.com

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Posted to the site on 19th December 2006