Source: OECD

Mexico had its telecommunications policy and regulation reviewed as a request of the Mexican Government.

This report is having its evaluations and is giving recommendations over Telecommunications Policy in Mexico by using a data base collected in 2010 and 2011.

The result of the analysis, in briefly, is that Mexico is a country with less effective regulations and policies to promote open and fair competition in telecommunication comparing to other OECD’s countries.

The lack of competitiveness raises a high cost to Mexican economy by providing high costs for consumers and regular quality service. Carlos Slim Monopolistic Telecommunication Mexico Corporation, costs the Mexican economy around USD 25 billion each year.

From a list of 34 OECD countries Mexico is at the end of the list when it comes to market penetration for fixed, mobile and broadband markets, with a very low investment per capita indicator mostly because there is a high profit margins of its monopolistic company’s operators.

In order to avoid this, OECD launched a series of recommendations:

To empower the regulatory authority COFETEL, which has to undertake market reviews, declare that a player has market power, and impose, and effectively enforce, the appropriate remedies, including asymmetric regulation, and also being properly in charge of the telecommunication policy and regulatory functions and nevertheless to establish non-discriminatory conditions for access to bottleneck facilities and enable lower calling costs.

To encourage foreign investment and ownership in fixed-line networks, this for the moment is not possible.

Reform the current concession system and make available sufficient spectrum resources and backbone fiber to meet the growing demand for mobile broadband data services and backbone connectivity.

Sources: The Washington Post, The Economist, Fox News

Countries in Latin America like Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica are more open to integrate women in the political arena, where have recently elected women to govern their countries. Following the example, the dilema is: Mexico prepared for a woman president?

The excitement part of Mexico’s Presidential election represents a strong female presidential candidate, Josefina Vazquez. This was not the first time when was registered  a Women candidate for president in Mexico, but what is making more real is that she is representing  PAN one of the three major parties in the country (the other two are PRI And PRD). She is a former congresswoman.

This is a interesting campaign with two other strong candidates: Enrique Pena Nieto for Institutional Revolutionary Party and Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador for the Democratic Revolution Party, who is making his second run after his loss in 2006.  So far the  front-runner in the current polls is the “PRI handsome” candidate who hopes to return Mexico’s long-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party of 71 years of single party rule, which actually had stopped in 2010 when President Fox was elected in 2000, followed by president Calderon in 2006.

This rise uncertainty, even when the population is tired of the PAN, which has presided over rising violence with less economic development with not  strong Mexican Labor Laws.

PAN President chose the “war” on Mexico’s increasingly powerful criminal groups, with the help of the military as a centerpiece of his public security strategy.

But what is interesting to analyze is the mechanism of the Mexico’s old political regime before PAN, related to criminal groups.

It seems that before the presidential election of 2000, officials from PRI protected those criminal groups  by controlling and establishing arrangements out of low with those criminal groups. After that, all the working arrangements of this system, went down and the violence rise. One explanation of experts on this theme is that this started to be violent because wasn’t eliminating the high-ranking corruption that had enabled organized crime to operate across the country.

So far the PRI candidate was trashed in different scandals, but nevertheless is the favorite among the women who believes in his charisma and in the same time, Ms. Vazquez is addressing to women as the centerpiece of the family.

Source: The Economist, CASESDE, Open Democracy

The fight against organized crime has been the priority of Felipe Calderón’s government since it started in 2006 and it was registered in the past five years a large  number of murders related to organized crime (between 40,000-50,000 ).  Surprisingly statistics shows that after high rates of murders between 2006-2010, the 2011’s rate rise, of 8%, which represents a significant slowdown comparing to 29%(increase in murder rates) in the past years.

There are a few theories to explain this:

The cooperation between the Mexican security forces and their American advisers, who work together under the Mérida Initiative[1]

The use of an alternative strategy where the Mexican government has declared itself opens to dialogue with civil society, where the society was willing to cooperate (by making anonymous calls to report any suspicious situation).

A general theory mentioned that after a period of territorial fighting between drug cartels, the gangs are settling back into a new equilibrium. The result is the supremacy of Sinaloan groups who were fighting against another criminal organizations. This has been the case in Baja California, where it disputed control with the Arellano Félix zone of operation.

Economic factors such as: the slow down of the demand for cocaine in the United States and on the other side an improvement on Mexican job policy concerning young people.

This measures conducted different results in different regions of the country with interesting variation at the state level. It have fallen sharply since 2010 in Tijuana border town and risen equally sharply in previously safe cities (such as Monterrey) and states like Oaxaca and Veracruz.

Even when it’s a difficult job to eradicate criminal groups, a satisfactory result could be the stabilization and control of the violence across the country.

Sources: www.afntijuana.info; www.tijuanapress.com

The meeting of the U.S.-Mexico Border Mayors Association was held in Tijuana at the World Trade Center.

The main themes analyzed during a news conference following by closed-door meetings were: migration (measures to attend the  numbers of Mexicans deported from the U.S) ,the importance of economic development at border towns,  the importance of changing negative perceptions about public safety in Mexican border, border cities infrastructure (new points of entry from Mexico to US to facilitate traffic reduction at border lines), measures to attend unemployment, investments between US-Mexico Corporation etc.

Participants at the reunion where mostly mayors from both countries. The mexican representants were: Carlos Bustamante Tijuana Mayor,  Francisco Pérez Tejada  Mexicali Mayer; Javier Robles Aguirre, Rosarito Mayer;  Enrique Pelayo Torres Ensenada Mayer; Alberto Aguirre Villarreal  Acuña Mayer, Coahuila; Manuel de Jesús Baldenebro Arredondo, San Luis Rio
Colorado Mayer; Vicente Terán Uribe , Agua Prieta Mayer; Juan Antonio Balderas Bilboa, Jiménez, Coahuila Mayer, Santos Javier Garza García  Anáhuac, Nuevo León Mayor; Alberto González Peña de Mier, Tamaulipas Mayer; Juan Diego Guajardo Anzaldua Rio Bravo Mayor; José Ángel Hernández Barajas  Nogales Mayor; Héctor Agustín Murguía Lardizabal  Juárez Mayor; Adriana Teissier Zavala,  Cozumel representant; Judith Fabiola Vázquez Saud, Acayuca, Veracruz Mayor and Everardo Villarreal Salinas  Reynosa, Tamaulipas Mayor.

US representants: John Cook  El Paso, Texas Mayor, Jerry Sanders San Diego, California Mayor; Madeleine Praino  Village of Vinton Mayor; Daniel Romero Calexico Mayor and Ken Miyagishima Las Cruces, Nuevo México.

Special guests:  Alan Bersin, assistant secretary of international affairs for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and Manlio Fabio Beltrones, a Mexican senator from Sonora and a member of Mexico’s Institutional Revolutionary Party.

This was the second edition, held in Tijuana, after a fist edition which took place in El Paso Juarez, last year. A full report of this reunion is expected any time soon.

Sources:  OECD, www.presidencia.gob.mx

Despite staging a strong recovery, Mexico economy still faces more challenges, before talking of stability.

Considering that this is a presidential election year, governmental institutions were more concerned since last year of making Mexico’s economic environment conducive for large-scale foreign and domestic investment by working on agendas where top priority is new regulation or modifications of reforms aimed at helping facilitate business.

The modifications of reforms which affect laws such as the Foreign Investment Law, the General Law of Mercantile Societies entered into effect in 2012.

The federal Government over the past 2, 3 years implemented actions to eliminate unnecessary procedures and worked on fiscal simplification also to attract new investment.

One of these actions is the approval of the Federal Low on Competitiveness Reform to combat monopolies businesses.

The results that are expected and in some cases are registering important advances are: More effective antitrust policy; Alignment with best international practices; Better tools for the competition authority; more transparency and accountability.

Zero base Regulatory Reform, is a measure which involves reductions on firms transaction costs and the elimination of inefficient procedures and norms.

According to the Ministry of Economy, regulatory simplification yield estimated savings for 2.8 billion USD (5 tax simplification measures and 12 simplification measures for electronic, agricultural and medical products).

Also is mentioned the reduction and simplification of internal regulations in the Public Administration, where16,000 internal regulations were eliminated and 9 handbooks replaced more than 7,000 rules.

The site tuempresa.gob.mx was created to reduce the number of procedures time and investment required for opening up a new business. According to the presidential informal the number of days required for the application of registering a new firm was reduced to nine days in 2011.

Most of this actions where more oriented on Maquiladora Industry, rather than small businesses.

Sources: Invest in Baja, SEDECO

According to the Law for the Promotion of the Competitiveness and Economic Development of Baja California[1] the State Governor offered, last month, 8.8 million Mexican pesos, as a economic incentive due to Mabamex expansion.

The Law for the Promotion of the Competitiveness and Economic Development of Baja California consists in offering to new or established foreign/local companies, tax free benefits or non tax benefits.

In the first category there are included expansion projects or technological investment projects from multinational companies (which is the case of Mabamex); but not only, there two others situations: reuse or treat 100% of their water consumption, with a 30% exemption from the monthly payment as long as the company reuses or treats the water; and hire disable or 60+ year-old people, with a 100% exemption in the Payroll State Tax as long as they are hired.

The Mabamex, Mattel plant is located in Tijuana Baja California.

This Mexico Maquiladora plant was moved to its current location in April 1999, but was established in the region in 1981. The plant is dedicated to the production of Barbie dolls and the Fisher Price line.

The expansion represents a 5.7 million dollars investment, which will generate 552 new jobs. The expansion is a result of production lines transfer from China.

Mabamex currently employs approximately 3,500 direct-labor workers during peak production periods.

With almost 4,000 employees, not only will increase Tijuana manufacturing jobs, but also will convert Mabamex, one of the largest manufacturing company in Baja California in terms of employment generation.

Source: SEDECO

January 20, 2012 was signed in Tijuana by president Calderon the Decree for the Competitivity and the Reduction of Tariffs of the Border Economic Zone.

The border Economic Zone includes the states of Baja California, Baja California Sur and a part of the state of Sonora. The initiative belonged to political and local business leaders from these regions which are arguing that border regions are living a different kind of reality comparing to those in central Mexico. Anti reactions started to rise from business groups in central Mexico.

Under this decree tariffs on 200 imported products were eliminated, a month before the Mexican federal government reduced tariffs on 204 Chinese products.

This is considered the first stage of the Border Economic Zone act, which will eliminate Mexican tariffs on imported products such as: clothing, shoes, canned foods, personal care items, wines, liquors, electronics etc.

This measure has the purpose to increase the competitiveness of the Baja California region, elevating the local consumption, considering that a large amount of consumers are crossing the border to shop into the United States.

I believe this could reduce the demand from Mexican consumers located at border towns, but it can’t be a big percentage, because United States stores will still be attractive to them, for their greater variety, even thou the prices could be comparable.

Future actions for the same zone would include federal and state funds for businesses that bring new technologies to Baja California, as well tax breaks for key sectors such as aerospace and biotech, two sectors that Baja California, Sonora governments and Mexico Manufacturers are strategically interested to promote.

Researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology at the University of New South Wales and the University of Melbourne, both institutions in Australia and Purdue University in the U.S. all worked together on a very interesting revolutionary study.

The study conducted by a group of physicists mentioned at the institutions above, shows how was invented the world’s narrowest conducting silicon wire. The wire is 10,000 times thinner than a human hair – with the same capacity to conduct electricity as a traditional copper wire.[1]  The same study proved that the wires maintain low capacity for resistance despite being 20 times thinner than conventional copper wires used on microprocessors.

This new invention is a step forward to connect with the world’s first quantum computer[2], which is about to built. Without wire at the same small scale to connect them, computing might not be possible.

Even if might sound futuristic, we’re close to the edge  of the microelectronics industry, where it will work with silicon based quantum computers in which atoms will be the units of computation.

The development of future quantum computers capable of multiplying the amount processing power of modern computers, is hoping to be in the benefit of all, but first to governments and multinational corporations, only because of its high cost of acquisition. With a powerful computer all corporations including all Mexico Corporation will be interconnected, and all kind of information will be processed in a few seconds, raising the efficiency and productivity of all processes of a chain network.

Sources: www.maquilaportal.com , www.welchallyn.com

Welch Allyn[1], one of the biggest medical companies in Tijuana, part of the Baja California medical cluster, announced an expansion for this year. This consists on an investment of US$7.4 million in 2012, for production growth.

Welch Allyn, is a global manufacturer of frontline medical products and solutions, more specifically manufactures medical diagnostic devices, as well as patient monitoring systems and vital signs devices.[2]

The Welch Allyn, Mexico Manufacturing Company is manufacturing thermometers, estimating to achieve 10% growth of the actual production with this new investment and generate 75 new specialized jobs.

The company has distribution, sales, and manufacturing facilities all across the globe, and employs over 2,600 people, with only 730 employees at the manufacturing plant in Tijuana.

In 2011 the institution Gestion de Negocios selected Welch Allyn, for the third time consecutive “The Best Companies to Work For” in Mexico, even when this company opened its operation only five years ago.

Last year the company was ranked number 38 in Mexico, based on the responses of its employee.

Source: http://www.siliconborder.com

Silicon border is a 10,000 acre (around 4,040-hectare) development, which has the vision of becoming one of the most important science park, located on the California- Baja California border, more specifically in Mexicali.

The project initiated in 2004-2005 and consists in developing a large industrial park. The intention for the next 15-20 years is to become a global center for semiconductor manufacturing.

There are other industries considered to be developed in the industrial park, such as: solar/photovoltaic, nanotechnology, flat panel Displey/LCD, aerospace, medical devices/biotechnology, LED/optoelectronocs, etc.

Not only its location enables multinational companies which will operates under a Mexico Maquiladora Program, here to be a cost-competitive with Asia, but also can find an excellent human resource capital.

The Autonomous University of Baja California (UABC), CETYS University,  campus Mexicali and Technical Institute of Mexicali, have started new programs such as Aerospace Engineering, Semiconductors and Microelectronics Engineering, Renewable Energy Engineering, Bioengineering, History and Sociology to prepare the required human capital for potential high-tech firms that will establish in the park.

Those universities also starded collaboration with UC San Diego for developing this human resource capital.

So far, ING Clarion Partners provides private market real estate investment advisory services to institutional investors, both domestic and international.   So far this group managed $23.0 billion of assets.

A special interest manifested Q-Cells, the world’s largest manufacturer of photovoltaic cells, who has the intention to develop a major thin film photovoltaic manufacturing facility in this industrial park.

So far there are done considerable advances of infrastructure of the park such as the electrical and water facilities are already built, potable water plant and distribution, fiber optic telephone and data cable, power substations, and waste treatment facilities.