From the start of the pandemic, different sectors of Mexico City have been affected. In the business world there have been ups and downs, that’s why past February 26, took place the ExITAM meeting, with the topic: “COVID-19 and the new challenges for the private sector”, in which, the current director of AT&T, Monica Aspe, exposed the principal challenges that is facing the private sector. Likewise, she also discussed how AT&T was influenced in these challenges.

During the meeting, participating alumni asked questions that were directly answered by Mónica Aspe, making it a very enjoyable meeting for the ExITAM community.

The ExITAM meeting was conducted by Ankarina Piña, Vice President of the Alumni Association. The speaker presented the next challenges:

1. Decrease in income
2. Inversions
3. Adjustment of the operation in the new reality.
4. Concentration excess
5. Uncertainty in navigation, legal frameworks, returns and investment protection.
6. Sustainability challenges.

Decrease in Income

For the first challenge, Mónica Aspe, explained that it is necessary to act quickly in this situation by adjusting the prices. On the other hand, she talked about how the telecommunications sector is a central sector for the economic recovery since it is resistant to crises. It is the engine of economic growth, and it increasingly occupies a larger part of the economy. Likewise, the economy is digitizing.

Inversions

The second challenge is to continue investments, gain market share and have competitive offers. There is market share for investment in infrastructure or mobile income, where this is increasingly encompassing a larger scale. Later, he commented that the telecommunications reform is increasing the income of the countries.

Adjustment of the operation in the new reality

The third challenge addressed by Mónica Aspe was the adjustment to the new reality. In other words, it is necessary to implement an adjustment in the networks, in the operations of the companies, and to new costs and strategies. Moreover, it is important to enable technological tools that allow a better adaptation to the situation in which we find ourselves. Also, explained that there is a shortage of devices in the supply chain, which occurred at the same time as the pandemic, and presents an increase in technological challenges in the supply chain. Now, in the perspective of the costumers, processes had to be digitized to allow greater customer satisfaction. This was reflected in a decrease in complaints and an increase in the satisfaction metric.

Concentration excess

The next challenge that was exposed was the concentration excess. Here, the impact that competition has had on growth and the regulator among companies was discussed.

Uncertainty in navigation, legal frameworks, returns and investment protection

The uncertainty in navigation considering the legal frameworks is the fifth challenge. Mónica explained that many initiatives that involves different topics have been proposed, for example, rights and security topics. Another initiative that was proposed was prepaid balances without validity, which is a challenge since if it were implemented it would generate greater uncertainty.

Sustainability challenges

To end with the challenges in the private sector; Mónica Aspe, enunciated how AT&T committed itself to end its carbon emissions for 2035, which means a big challenge, because this company generates a big amount of energy. However, they are analyzing the best viable strategy to use clean energy, and to help the environment.

In conclusion, there are many challenges to face, having the facilities to adapt to changes is crucial to survive in this changing world caused by Covid-19. In addition, the telecommunications sector is essential for economic recovery because it has a very fast growth and its transversal impact on the digital economy, which can detonate more sectors.