Insecurity in the country caused by organized crime has intensified. And the telecommunications sector has not been immune to this wave of violence. According to the National Chamber of the Electronic, Telecommunications and Technology Industry (Canieti), regions such as the Bajío and the north of the country have become the areas of greatest risk for companies dedicated to connectivity services to operate. .
Enrique Yamuni, president of Canieti, which brings together companies such as AT&T, Movistar, Huawei, Intel, Motorola, among others, assured that the insecurity that exists in the country causes the sector to experience times of losses and overpricing, putting “in serious jeopardizes the operation of the companies”, since both the installation of equipment in new markets, as well as the maintenance of the networks they already have, are compromised. This ends up affecting users.
For this reason, he demanded that the Federal, state and municipal governments guarantee the rule of law, as well as strategies that “stop the wave of violence that organized crime has unleashed in Mexico.”
At the beginning of August, attacks on various businesses and vehicles were recorded in Jalisco, Guanajuato and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. Around during the violent days.
The investment in real terms at the end of 2021, reported by the concessionaires to Inegi, amounted to 75,900 million pesos, which is equivalent to a reduction of 8.1% compared to 2020, while in nominal terms this annual reduction was 1.3%. . In addition, the injection in infrastructure fell 10.3% annually in real terms.
“A long time ago they have stolen our security and the right to free transit in national territory (…) Foreign direct investment and national investment are completely committed and subject to the conditions of the country, where one of the main ones is security” said the Canieti.
Some of the entities detected as potential sites to become technology hubs are also states with high crime rates.
The telecommunications union is not the only one that has asked to reinforce security, after the days of violence in Bajío and Chihuahua, the National Association of Self-Service and Department Stores (ANTAD) called on the federal, state and municipal authorities to reinforce and take the necessary measures to preserve the rule of law.
Companies create security protocols
The US-based company AT&T told Expansión in writing that it has developed a security protocol , due to the insecurity in the country, for the engineers and workers who are dedicated to the installation and maintenance of its network.
“For AT&T in Mexico, the safety of its employees is the most important thing. For this reason, our field engineers receive a security protocol on how to act in certain situations, where the main thing is to stay safe and immediately inform the company in order to carry out the pertinent follow-up”, explains the company.
Megacable is another company that has had to look for alternatives to continue operating in the midst of insecurity. In April, the company explained to Expansión that the incidence of organized crime began to worsen in the last quarter of last year and has continued during the first quarter of 2022.
Four years ago, Megacable had to delay its coverage plan in Tlaquepaque, Jalisco, due to the insecurity in that part of the country. “Since (organized crime organizations) kidnap certain plazas, we face these circumstances in which they ‘lift’ the engineer and interrogate him to find out what he is doing. Fortunately, they have not been major things. You go with your engineers and your crews to lay the fiber (optics) and they don’t let you (install it) or they ask you for a floor right to be able to do it, they even give you schedules, ”Juan Carlos Fernández, legal corporate lawyer, assured in April of the company.
“We have never accepted a negotiation and we have never opened channels for them to propose something like this to us. We simply cut off dialogue and leave,” he added.
Expansión also sought out Telcel, Telefónica, Totalplay and Altán Redes, but the companies decided not to comment “due to the nature of the issue.”
Sedena will accompany the CFE to install antennas
The CFE reported on Friday that it will install 2,800 antennas to connect 6.4 million Mexicans located in 18,634 towns that until now had no internet access. To achieve this, David Pantoja, general director of the state company, explained that he will use
After the announcement, the CFE reported on its Twitter account that the National Defense Secretariat (SEDENA) will collaborate in carrying out a census to detect appropriate sites to erect antennas, taking advantage of the permanent deployment maintained by the Army, the Air Force and the National Guard.
