América Móvil eyes bigger role in US prepaid cellphone market
Almost a year after America Movil, the largest telecom company in Latin America, made its first acquisition in the US prepaid cellphone market, when it bought Simple Mobile, the company has done it again.
On Monday, it announced the purchase of Start Wireless Group, another mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) that will add 1.4m subscribers to TracFone Wireless, America Movil’s US subsidiary. Continue reading »
Mexico telecoms reform: almost there
It’s not quite a done deal yet. But it’s getting there.
Mexico’s Congress on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly in support of a sweeping reform bill that could break open the country’s telecommunications and broadcasting sectors and introduce more competition in the two tightly-held markets.
But while the Senate voted 108-3 to approve the bill (which has already been passed by the lower house), a number of constitutional changes included in the reform package still need to be approved by two-thirds of Mexico’s 31 state legislatures before it can become law. Continue reading »
Slim helps Homex make prison break
Just when the gloom seemed to be getting too much for Homex, the leading homebuilder in Mexico by revenues, there was light: the company’s shares and bonds rocketed on Friday after it announced a deal to sell a chunk of its prisons business for 4bn pesos ($326m).
And guess who bought it…telecoms tycoon Carlos Slim. Continue reading »
Carlos Slim takes the triple jump
Lots of long faces among Colombian media executives – and doubtless other Latin American media executives too – about Carlos Slim’s latest move.
Late last month, the Mexican telecoms tycoon snapped up exclusive Latin American broadcast rights for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. In doing so, his telecoms company, América Movíl, has effectively cornered the market for sports content in a sports-crazy continent (bar Brazil, where media empire Globo bought the Olympic rights). Continue reading »
Virgin looks to take on America Movil in Colombia
Ding, ding, ding. Get ready to rumble.
Sir Richard Branson, the airline to mobile phone billionaire, has landed in Colombia with the launch on Wednesday of his Virgin Mobile services in the country.
The move will pit Sir Richard against Carlos Slim, the world’s richest man and who through his flagship company, América Móvil, dominates the telecoms sector in Latin America. Continue reading »
America Movil: time to buy?
Peña Nieto’s telecoms move highlights grip on power
Exciting times in Mexico. Enrique Peña Nieto is the first Mexican president since Carlos Salinas de Gortari, a quarter of a century ago, to seize the reins of power with both hands. And on Monday he announced his most recent assault on the often shadowy special interests that are seen as resistant to any attempts to overturn decades of misfiring in the Mexican economy.
Having celebrated at the weekend his first 100 days in power with a claim that “I’m here to transform the country, not simply run it”, on Monday Peña Nieto unveiled a plan to reform telecommunications, a sector long criticized as being dominated by the three “titans” of the industry. Continue reading »
América Móvil teams up with China-US security software maker
Source: NQ Mobile
A US Congressional committee might have branded Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corporation, the Chinese telecom equipment makers, as a threat to US national security.
But such fears do not appear to be shared by Carlos Slim, the world’s richest man. On Monday, Slim’s América Móvil, which dominates the mobile phone business in Latin America, announced plans to team up with security software maker NQ Mobile, a Cayman Islands-registered company with Chinese roots. Continue reading »
América Móvil Q4: not as disastrous as you think
So it is hardly surprising that comments started flying on Wednesday when the share price of América Móvil tanked. The stock ended the day’s trading at 14.16 pesos in Mexico City, a loss of more than 10 per cent and the steepest one-day fall in at least four years. Continue reading »
Carlos Slim takes aim at Netflix
Trust Carlos Slim! Just when most of the rest of Mexico is preparing for Saturday’s inauguration of Enrique Peña Nieto as president, the world’s richest man has titillated the taste buds of a TV crazy nation.
On Friday, Slim’s América Móvil will launch in Mexico a Netflix-style service known as Clarovideo. Subscribers to Clarovideo – which is already underway in several other Latin American countries – will pay only about $5 a month, some two thirds the cost of Netflix. Continue reading »
Chart of the week: mobile numbers start to add up for EMs
As mobile phones approach worldwide ubiquity, it’s easy to see that the countries with the biggest populations will have the most connections, with China and India in the lead.
But which companies are serving those customers? And which ones are set to capitalise on the growth in emerging markets? Chart of the week dials in. Continue reading »
Colombia: rising up against Slim [updated]
It is quite a usual picture when protestors burn the flag of this or that country as an expression of their political or religious anger. It is quite an unusual picture, however, when a local councilman burns up the flag of a mobile phone operator outside the city council.
The mobile operator in question is Claro, a unit of Carlos Slim’s América Móvil. And the flag burning underscores the simmering resentment over Claro’s 60 per cent lock over local market. Continue reading »
A bad week for Señor Slim
Even the wealthiest man in the world has bad weeks, or at least difficult ones.
And this has been one for Carlos Slim, the Mexican telecoms, retail, mining, construction – you name it – magnate. Continue reading »
El Salvador says no to Slim
Plucky fellows those market regulators in the small and relatively poor Central American nation of El Salvador. Their opposition has scuppered a deal between two very rich men: one the richest in Ireland, the other the wealthiest in all of the world.
After months of hand-wringing, Digicel, based in Jamaica but controlled by the Irish magnate Denis O’Brien, and Carlos Slim’s América Móvil have renounced plans for a takeover of mobile operator Digicel by the Mexican company, the dominant force in Latin American telecommunications. Continue reading »
America Movil takes a $1.2bn hit
Even the world’s wealthiest tycoon must say at least “Ouch!” when the jewel in his business crown takes a $1.2bn hit.
The loss was incurred by Carlos Slim’s América Móvil during the second quarter, the company reported Thursday. The problem was a 4.1 per cent drop in the Mexican peso against the dollar and falls against other Latin American currencies. Continue reading »
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