América Móvil, S.A.B. de C.V. 22%

OVERALL SCORE – 22%

América Móvil’s overall Index score puts it in fourth place among telecommunications companies in the Index. Mexico was rated “Partly Free” in Freedom House’s 2015 “Freedom on the Net” index. The country’s legal and regulatory environment may prevent a perfect score on all indicators in the Index; however, this is a challenge for all of the telecommunications operators in the Index, considering that operators are always subject to the country’s license, rules, and regulations. This research found no explicit legal or regulatory impediments on most of the indicators.

Considering the scale of América Móvil’s operations – it is one of the top five mobile telecommunications providers in the world – its low score on commitments related to freedom of expression and privacy rights represents a considerable gap and a concern to hundreds of millions of users across multiple markets. Commitments at the corporate level would represent a strong step toward improving the company’s performance and would present an ideal point of dialogue for stakeholders and company representatives. Furthermore, it is fair to expect the company to disclose information about how it handles third-party requests and to introduce a transparency report that provides the maximum amount of information as permitted by law.

COMMITMENT – 11%

On Commitment, América Móvil’s placed sixth out of eight telecommunications companies in the Index. Based on our research, the regulatory and legal context in which the company operates does not appear to explain the company’s poor performance. América Móvil only finds itself ahead of the poorest performers due to evidence of concrete whistleblower (C3) and grievance mechanisms (C6) in relation to privacy. However, these mechanisms do not appear to explicitly include freedom of expression issues. While it was not uncommon for telecommunications companies to provide somewhat more disclosure supporting privacy, América Móvil’s failure goes beyond a simple gap on commitments to respect freedom of expression. The research could not identify evidence of relevant policy (C1) or management oversight (C2) on these issues, and there was similarly no evidence to suggest that the company performs due diligence on its business impacts (C4) or engages with relevant stakeholders in a systematic manner (C5). These are practices on which the company can certainly take steps to show improvement.

FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION – 27%

América Móvil’s score on Freedom of Expression was fourth out of eight telecommunications companies evaluated, and a full 20 percentage points behind the leading telecommunications company, Vodafone. Most of these points came from América Móvil’s Mexican operating company Telcel’s relatively clear and accessible terms of service (F1), its partial commitment to notify users when such policies change (F2), and its disclosure about the circumstances in which it may restrict content or access to the service (Indicators F3 and F4).

Transparency about requests for content restriction: The company offers no disclosure about its process for responding to any kind of request (F6) – by government or private entities – to restrict content or access to the service, nor does it publish any data about the volume or nature of any such requests (Indicators F7 and F8). While the company may face challenges disclosing such information for its operations in other markets, our understanding of Mexico’s legal environment suggests that there are no legal or regulatory obstacles that prevent Telcel from disclosing its process for responding to third-party requests to restrict content – whether from the government or other third parties.

Network management: The company discloses that it engages in network management (F10).

PRIVACY – 25%

América Móvil placed third among telecommunications companies on Privacy, although its score was less than half of the top scoring telecommunications company, Vodafone (52 percent), and only slightly more than half of AT&T’s (49 percent). It earned only one percentage point more than Orange.

Handling of user information: América Móvil’s Mexican operating company Telcel’s disclosures about collection of mobile users’ information (P3) were slightly below the full Index average, through the company’s score was 20 percentage points behind the highest scoring telecommunications companies, Vodafone and AT&T. Disclosure about sharing of user information with third parties (P4) was higher than MTN and Bharti Airtel and on par with Axiata, but lower than all other telecommunications companies. Telcel tied at the front of the telecommunications cohort alongside AT&T and Vodafone for disclosing information about how users can control the company’s collection of user information (P5) – albeit at a low score of 25 percent. The company provides users with no ability to access information that the company holds on them (P6), and no disclosure about the retention of user information (P7).

Transparency about requests for user data: When examining disclosure about the company’s process for responding to third-party requests for user information (P9), América Móvil discloses a commitment to carry out due diligence on requests before deciding how to respond, but it provides no further information about its process. Beyond that, the company has no commitment to inform users about any type of requests for their information (P10). It publishes no data about the volume and nature of requests it receives (P11).

Security: The company discloses very little about its security practices (P12), although it does earn full points for its efforts to educate users about security threats (P14).