America Movil’s challenge to the way in which Mexico’s telecoms watchdog wants it to separate its fixed-line unit into different entities was accepted by a federal judge for review, according to media reports.

Earier in the year, America Movil was asked to separate its fixed-line business Telnor from mobile business Telmex following a review on the progress of telecoms reforms introduced in 2014.

Judge Silvia Ceron said the implementation of the split, for which the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) gave the operator two years, will need to continue while the appeal is reviewed.

In fact this month, Telmex will be expected to submit constitutional by-laws of the new companies.

On 16 May a constitutional hearing will be held to review the appeal although reports say an investigation could take more than a year and the case could even end up in the Supreme Court.

Earlier this year, IFT said America Movil’s new fixed-line units will be required to provide local network services and establish a board of directors separate from America Movil. In addition, the unit cannot use current or past brand names including Telmex, Telnor and Telcel.

However, America Movil immediately said it would appeal the decision and filed one last week.

Its grievances included the fact that regulated prices for services provided by the new entities “are substantially lower with respect to international benchmarks”. The company also said it had proposed a price structure as part of its plan, but this was not taken into account by IFT.