5G regulation and law in Mexico

Major local services providers are already offering 5G in some cities.

On 7 October 2021, the Federal Telecommunications Institute (“IFT”) created the Technical Committee for the deployment of 5G (Statement 84/2021) in order to identify and facilitate the testing of 5G technologies, as well as the interaction between the IFT, the industry, the academy, public entities, and any other interested parties, to present current and future 5G needs, strategies, foresight and studies.

In 2022, the IFT confirmed that the 5G spectrum auction would take place that year, but in September pushed this back to 2023.

As of December 2022, the IFT, through its Annual Programme for the Use and Exploitation of Frequency Bands 2023, has confirmed that it will make available up to 7,750 MHz of millimetre-wave spectrum next year for 5G deployment.

Companies such as Telcel, AT&T and Movistar  have kept prices very similar to 4G prices.

5G has not been launched for industrial purposes.

The terms of any future 5G auction are yet to be defined. In general, spectrum licences for commercial use are granted exclusively through public tenders. Any party that meets the criteria for a given tender is able to participate, and the IFT must consider all qualifying bids.

The IFT has made efforts to extend the scope of the 5G network, implementing different programmes in the future, such as the Annual Programme for the Use and Exploitation of Frequency Bands 2023.

Depending on the carrier (eg Telcel, AT&T, Movistar), the frequencies are accessible to stadiums, airports and other special premises through the general spectrum frequencies in the same way that 4G network frequencies are available.

On 2022, the IFT confirmed that the 5G spectrum auction would take place that year, but then postponed it until  2023.

• No public tenders have been held to award 5G spectrum licences 
• To date, the government has not set aside specific spectrum bands for 5G.
• There are no licence conditions in place yet.
• No pricing information has been announced for the 5G auctions. However, the IFT has urged the Senate to consider reducing costs for 5G spectrum licences to ensure that deployment takes place in a timely manner.

The IFT has authorised the current carriers, through modifications to their current network concessions,  to offer 5G services. 

In 2022, the IFT said that the 5G spectrum auction for mobile services would take place that year, but then postponed this to 2023.

The same year, the IFT said that frequencies in the 600 MHz, 800 MHz, 850 MHz and 1.5 GHz bands would become available for 5G, but warned that the costs might be too high for some potential bidders.

To date, no 5G-specific rules have been drafted.

No immediate issues have arisen, but one risk is the high cost of spectrum and deployment due to lack of infrastructure and the challenges of securing permission from local and federal authorities to build and deploy 5G infrastructure.

No decisions regarding non-compliance with 5G concession obligations have taken place.

There are no regulations on 5G network sharing or spectrum sharing, other than the publication of the Programme in the Federal Gazette on 19 September 2022, which contains the frequencies and radio spectrum bands to be made available to interested parties for the provision of telecommunications and broadcasting services for the year 2023.

No 5G network sharing or spectrum sharing agreements have been made public yet.

The rules have not yet been established.

However, for general networks, each year the IFT publishes the Minimum Technical Conditions for interconnection between concessionaires that operate public telecommunications networks. These apply to all concessionaires operating public telecommunications networks that are interested in interconnection agreements with other networks.

While there have been concerns and assumptions among users, regulators and legislators that 5G could represent an additional risk for cyber-attacks, the government has so far not made any statement or comment.