WCA September 2013

63 / 116

61
Wire & Cable ASIA – September/October 2013
Chicago-based Boeing recruited more than 250
engineers to develop a permanent fix to the problem.
This yielded a redesign of the lightweight but highly
volatile battery and its encasement in a steel box.
Safety regulators in the US, Japan and other countries
approved the modifications, and the 787 returned to the
skies in April.
When the Boeing CEO spoke, the company had
delivered 60 of the planes, with 830 more on order.
Telecom
Sweeping pro-competitiveness initiative in
Mexico heartens companies struggling to
gain on the dominant operators
President Enrique Peña Nieto of Mexico on 10th June
signed into law a far-reaching reform of that nation’s
telecommunications and broadcast industries that aims to
curb the market power of companies like America Movil in
order to increase competition and investment in the sector.
As noted by Anthony Harrup of the Wall Street Journal,
high costs and a low rate of investment have limited the
number of Mexicans who enjoy access to modern telecom
services. A 2012 government survey of households showed
only 26 per cent of Mexican homes had Internet access;
only 32 per cent of homes had computers.
Mr Peña Nieto said that the scope and spirit of the
constitutional reform, which seeks to give Mexicans access
to better and cheaper telecommunications services and
raise competitiveness, should be reflected in the secondary
legislation, which Mexico’s Congress has six months
to complete. The overhaul immediately creates a new
regulatory body, Ifetel, with expanded powers including the
ability to apply asymmetric regulation on dominant players
and even force them to sell assets.
The company expected to be most affected by new
regulations is America Movil, which has 70 per cent of
Mexico’s wireless subscribers and more than 70 per cent of
fixed phone lines.
Mr Peña Nieto said that Ifetel, which will have the power
to grant and revoke telecommunications and broadcast
concessions, will order asset sales “in proportions needed
to eliminate anti-competitive effects.”
But whether the new regulator would order a breakup
of America Movil, or what assets the company could
be required to sell, is uncertain. From Mexico City the
Journal’s Mr Harrup wrote: “Analysts at Moody’s Investors
Service said in a recent report they expect asset sales
would be a last resort in the case of operators that resist
the pro-competitiveness decisions” of the new regulator.
(“Mexican President Signs Telecommunications Reform into
Law,” 10th June).
❖ Competitors who have struggled for years to gain
ground against America Movil and its fixed-line unit
Telmex – notably Mexico’s No 2 wireless service provider
Telefónica SA, with close to 20 per cent of the country’s
100 million mobile phone subscribers – are optimistic
about the new laws.
In particular, Francisco Gil Diaz, Telefónica’s president
for Mexico and Central America, pointed out that the
unusual step of including in the constitution details that
would normally go in the enabling legislation safeguards
the plan from challenges on constitutional grounds.
The Wall Street Journal provided context: “America
Movil has for years defended its market position through
the courts, often blocking decisions by regulators.”
Let the pundits agonise over
encroachment by Washington on personal
privacy: the public just wants a bargain
A new study from Amdocs Ltd, the market leader in
telecommunications billing services, strongly suggests that
Americans are far less concerned about safeguarding their
telecom privacy than might seem from the indignation over
government “snooping” currently convulsing the media.
As reported in Light Reading by Mari Silbey, a recent
Amdocs survey found consumers willing to barter personal
data for higher broadband speeds, service discounts, and
priority customer service.
Some 57 per cent of respondents told the Chesterfield,
Missouri-based company that they would exchange data on
Facebook “friends”, family members, and locations in return
for a better service deal.
“The Amdocs news is timely for a cable industry that
has recently jumped on the big data bandwagon,” wrote
Ms Silbey.
“Vendors of every stripe were hawking their big data wares
at the Cable Show (10th-12th June in Washington, DC), all
in the name of helping operators streamline costs and
increase” revenue opportunities. (“Bartering for Broadband,”
20 th June).
The Washington-based independent tech writer noted
that the Amdocs survey was released, at the show, in
conjunction with the company’s new Big Data Framework.
This combines an existing Amdocs product suite of data
analysis technologies with packaged professional services
designed to help operators extract more value from
customer and network information.
Supporting Ms Silbey’s view of big data as “a hot
commodity for service providers,” the Amdocs research
reflects evidence across multiple industries.
Facebook, for example, is testing a service which would
enable consumers to access free Wi-Fi in select locations
simply by checking in with their Facebook accounts.
Specific findings from the Amdocs survey:
❖ Forty-four per cent of consumers said they would
exchange data for cash rewards