Telecom ambush. (New Business).

The 10-member multiparty Parliamentary Telecommunications Conference (CPT),appointed to hammer out proposals for telecom law reforms, plunged into crisis on April 30, when legislators from the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) joined forces to announce their own alternate proposal.

The incident has caused widespread anger and confusion within the telecom industry, and has outraged National Action Party (PAN) legislators, who point out that the CPT's proposal is the end result of more than a year of negotiation and discussions with market analysts, telecommunications companies and political parties, while the PRI-PRD counterproposal, presented by PRD Deputy Victor Manuel Ochoa, has never been up for discussion.

"Nobody knows the (PRI-PRD) proposal, nor who wrote it. Ochoa only ever attended one CPT meeting, so it's odd that he should even have a proposal," PAN Deputy Hector Osuna told local press.

But many critics believe they know who wrote the proposal. Some of the few who have actually seen the mysterious PRD-PRI counter-proposal say it is virtually identical to one submitted by Telefonos de (Telmex) to the CPT last year. This has led to industry-wide suspicions that Telemex, in an attempt to protect its interests, is actually behind the move.

Senator Javier Corral (PAN), head of the CPT, went so far as to accuse PRI Deputy and President of the Congressional Communications Commission Jesus Orozco, who spearheaded the counter-proposal, of being on Telmex's payroll. Since then, the crisis has worsened: On May 6, Orozco announced he would withdraw from the CPT unless Corral provided proof to substantiate his allegations, and then hours later said he was completely unwilling to work with Corral. The entire incident bodes ill for the prospects of any groundbreaking reforms to the local telecom industry.