Regulator Demands Telcel Network Failure Report

Mexico's telecoms watchdog Cofetel has told the country's largest mobile carrier Telcel, owned by mobile holding group América Móvil, it must issue a report detailing how its network failed on Tuesday, Cofetel said in a statement.

The company's network was down for seven hours, which it attributed to technical problems encountered with equipment provided by Canadian telecoms equipment provider Nortel Networks.

According to regulations, operators are obliged to issue a report in less than 24 hours from the moment of the network failure occurred explaining the occurrence.

Telcel said the regulator had given it an additional 24-hour period, extending it through Thursday February 8.

Cofetel officials were not available for comment when contacted by BNamericas.

For Nortel's part, a company spokesperson told BNamericas that Nortel did not have specific information on the network failure, but that it is "working with Telcel to analyze what happened."

The service failure affected around 30% of Telcel's 41mn subscribers, primarily based in Mexico City, press quoted a Telcel spokesperson as saying. The spokesperson added that new software installation caused the service interruption."

Posted to the site on 9th February 2007