Interconnection rates drop 20% in Mexico

Mexico's interconnection rates will drop 20.3% in 2015 as part of the new fees approved by watchdog IFT.

Starting January, the fee for connecting mobile accounts from different operators will be 0.2505 pesos per minute (US$0.017), compared with 0.3144 pesos in 2014, according to local media reports.

El Financiero reported that this is the most significant drop in interconnection rates since 2012, when they declined 56.53%.

The new rates could lead to even cheaper plans from non-market dominant companies such as Telefónica and Iusacell, which together added 2.1mn users in the first nine months or 2014, mostly due to the asymmetrical measures against market dominant América Móvil through the telecom reform signed into law last year.

Telefónica posted the largest growth in consumers, finishing Q3 with 20.6mn users, and bumping its market share up to 20.1% from 18.7% a year ago, according to consulting firm Competitive Intelligence Unit. Iusacell's share, with 8.6mn lines, grew to 8.4% from 7.1%.

On the other hand, both América Móvil and Nextel lost users. Nextel's share dropped to 2.8% from 3.6% last year, while América Móvil's Telcel saw its share of the market fall to 68.8% from 70.6%.