Teléfonos de México’s (Telmex) request for a licence to offer pay-TV service has been rejected by the Mexican government, which cited deficiencies in the quality of the company’s connections with rivals’ networks.

The Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes (Communications and Transportation Ministry) said that Telmex hadn’t provided required information to the government. The ministry will continue working with the telco on meeting the obligations, it said.

Telmex’s bid to enter the pay-TV sector appear to have moved one step forward after a federal court ruled May 11 that the ministry must make a decision on its request to offer such services.

The state was given 15 days to issue its decision in the matter. The Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes noted at the time that the ruling wasn’t ordering the ministry to change or eliminate the restriction, but to resolve Telmex’s petition.

The decision will hurt Mexico’s economy and consumers by preventing competition in television service, according to Javier Mondragón Alarcón, Telmex’s director of regulatory and legal affairs. The company will ask a judge to go back to the ministry with a clarification of a legal order requiring the government to rule on Telmex’s licence, Mondragón said.

Telmex has been looking to acquire a licence since a 2006 agreement between phone and cable carriers and the government on conditions that must be met to get permission to provide triple play packages of phone, Internet and video service. Telmex contends that it has met those conditions, which include allowing users to switch carriers while keeping the same number.

Categories: Articles, Broadcast, Pay TV, Policy, Regulation