EMAT News Feed

The consortium comprising of media group Televisa  and Nextel Mexico has emerged as the sole bidder in Mexico’s auction of 90MHz spectrum in the 1.7GHz frequency band.

The consortium offered the minimum bid price of MXN 180.3 million for 30MHz in the 1710MHz to 2170MHz frequency band in each of the country’s nine mobile operating regions, the Mexican telecoms regulator Cofetel announced.

Televisa  plans to invest USD 1.44 billion for a 30 percent stake in Nextel Mexico if the partners obtain enough spectrum to deploy a 3G network.

Cofetel declared the sale of a second nationwide license deserted. The requirements imposed by the Federal Competition Commission meant that only Televisa-Nextel could bid for one of the two nationwide licenses.

América Móvil, S.A. offered MXN 3.79 billion for 21 blocks of 10MHz in all operating regions. Telefónica Móviles México offered MXN 1.27 billion for six 10MHz blocks in six regions.

Cofetel is expected to announce the tender winners within the next 30 days. A separate auction of blocks in the 1850MHz to 1990MHz frequency band ended on 18 July, with combined bids reaching MXN 2.98 billion.

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See the América Móvil, S.A., Telefónica Móviles México, Televisa and Comunicaciones Nextel de Mexico, S.A. de C.V. records in EMAT.

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America Movil has announced the results of its two public share offers for sister companies Telmex Internacional and Telmex, paying out approximately USD 2.12 billion to obtain 93.6% of shares held by Telint shareholders and 99.4% of those in Carso Global Telecom, which controls 60.7% of Telint and 59.4% of Telmex. 

America Movil was looking to gain a high enough percentage to remove the two fixed-line players from public trading in this move, but the result for Telint has fallen short of the 95% necessary for delisting. 

Telmex is expected to begin the delisting process shortly in advance of anticipated synergies. 

America Movil issued a further 7.09 billion shares in the deal, exchanging them for 3.46 billion shares in Carso Global Telecom.

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America Movil has launched its tender offer for Carso Global Telecom and Telmex International.

At mid-January, America Movil announced it will launch a share exchange offer to the shareholders of Carso Global Telecom and Telmex Internacional. The share swap would give America Movil an indirect 59.4 percent stake in fixed-line operator Telefonos de Mexico (Telmex) and 60.7 percent in Telmex Internacional. Billionaire Carlos Slim holds controlling stakes in all of the companies involved in the deal.

The Telmex Internacional exchange offer targets holders of Series A shares, Series L Shares and American Depositary Shares (ADSs) of Telint. America Movil is offering MXN 11.66 in cash or 0.373 AMX L shares for each series L share or series A share tendered, and MXN 233.20 in cash or 0.373 AMX L ADSs for each Telmex Internacional ADS tendered. Additionally, America Movil is offering 2.0474 AMX L Shares for each Carso share tendered, and 0.20474 AMX ADSs for each Carso ADS tendered.

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Wireless operator America Movil and fixed-line company Telmex Internacional - both controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim – plan to make $880 million in infrastructure investments in Peru through 2012, the head of America Movil’s Peruvian unit, Sr Humberto Chavez Lopez, said.

“This investment will be carried out over three years. The investment by America Movil will total $500 million, while Telmex will invest an additional $380 million,” Chavez said.

The announcement was made during the inauguration of a new $110 million, 3,200-kilometer (1,990-mile) fiber-optic network that runs the entire length of Peru’s Pacific coast, the official Andina news agency said.

“This network will be a voice, data and video superhighway with state-of-the-art technology for users,” the executive said.

America Movil, which entered Peru in 2005 and operates under the Claro brand; and Telmex Peru, a unit of Telmex Internacional, have already installed three ducts for the fiber-optic cable, Chavez said.

Construction of America Movil’s corporate headquarters in Lima was also launched during the same inauguration ceremony, attended by Peruvian President Alan Garcia.(EFE News Service)

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See the Telmex Peru, Telmex Internacional, S.A.B. de C.V. and America Movil record in EMAT

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Telefónica Móviles México has started a legal action to obtain a court order against the deactivation of lines that were not registered in the Mobile Phone Users National Registry (Renaut), local newspaper El Universal reports.

America Movil, via its Mexican unit Telcel, has recently obtained a provisional court order against the suspension of unregistered mobile lines.

 On 9 April, Telefónica Móviles México announced it will maintain the unregistered mobile phone lines active, even after the 10 April deadline, and that – if necessary – it will go to court in defence of its subscribers. However, Mexican telecommunications regulator Cofetel urged Movistar to comply with the law and suspend service to mobile customers who have not registered their numbers in the Renaut database by 10 April, or face penalties. Telefónica Móviles México now hopes to obtain a provisional court order absolving it from cutting off service to customers who have not provided proof of identity.

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Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim, who has knocked Bill Gates from the top of the Forbes list of the world’s billionaires, is famed for his lack of ostentation and aggressive investments during crises.

Slim, 70, took the top spot for the first time in the list published on Wednesday, pushing the Microsoft founder out as he rose from third place on the success of America Movil, Latin America’s biggest mobile phone operator.

His fortune was estimated at 53.5 billion dollars, according to the new Forbes ranking out Wednesday.

“These numbers come from the price of the stock of the companies so we’re happy that investors are confident about Mexico, confident about Latin America and confident about our companies,” Arturo Elias Ayub, spokesman for Slim’s Telmex group, told AFP.

Slim’s fortune rose 18.5 billion in 12 months, and shares of America Movil, of which he owns a 23-billion-dollar stake, were up 35 percent in a year, according to Forbes.

Slim learned his business acumen at an early age; his father, a Lebanese immigrant, gave each of his children a savings book for managing their income and expenses.

Slim studied civil engineering and later built up the telephone monopoly Telmex after acquiring it from the government in 1990.

The softly-spoken billionaire last month received authorization to merge three of his telecommunications companies to form a regional giant, with 250 million customers in 18 countries.

His business empire is ever-present across Mexico, including department stores, building companies and the Inbursa financial group.

Amid the financial crisis of 2008, he continued his trademark behavior of buying up struggling businesses, for which he first became famous during the Latin American economic crisis of the early 1980s.

“Instead of stopping investing, he invests more when a crisis comes and the results have always been good,” Ayub said.

In 2008, Slim bought a minority stake in The New York Times as the stock sunk.

He has recently made investments in telecommunications across the Americas, and also in infrastructure, including water and electricity companies, Ayub said.

Slim, a widower with six children, has handed over the daily operations of his companies to his three sons and business partners and is a well-known public figure in Mexico.

His is also a baseball fanatic, and known for his philanthropy although not on the scale of Gates.

Through two foundations he has invested some 10 billion dollars in health, education, justice and sports projects in Mexico and Latin America.

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­Mexico’s dominant mobile network operator, Telcel is to enable prepay top-ups from the USA via a deal with MoreMagic Solutions. From 46,000 Western Union Agent locations throughout the United States, as well as additional international retail locations, or the web, a customer can purchase a gift of prepaid airtime, or transfer electronic airtime, to a Telcel phone.

MoreMagic Solutions also interconnects with America Movil subsidiaries in Brazil, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Peru, which operate under the Claro brand.

Mexico is the leading country of origin for US immigrants, with the Mexican-born population numbering 11.5 million in early 2009, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. MoreMagic Solutions is offering members of this community the opportunity to give a directed gift to a friend or family member in Mexico, sending electronic airtime for Telcel prepaid phones.

When a member of the Mexican community in the United States, or another country, sends a TopUp, the electronic airtime is immediately available, and the recipient is notified with a personalized SMS message. The gift of an electronic airtime recharge is immediately available on the Telcel mobile phone, and will result in more calls from home.

Telcel is the leading wireless services provider in Mexico with more than 59.2 million clients and 90% of the Mexican wireless market. In operation since 1989, Telcel offers a wide array of voice and data services in GSM/GPRS/EDGE y UMTS / HSDPA network in Latin America

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America Movil has agreed to deploy a full-screen mobile advertising platform developed by MyScreen Mobile. Together, MyScreen and America Movil will deliver ads to the mobile network operator’s users who voluntarily subscribe to the service.

America Movil has already begun to integrate MyScreen’s platform and initiate plans to roll out the service in the region.

“Mobile advertising has tremendous potential, as the penetration and individuality of the cellular phone allows us to reach a significant and highly segmented public. MyScreen’s solution joins other mobile advertising solutions already offered by America Movil,” said Marco Quatorze, director of value-added services for America Movil. “This launch reflects our commitment to stay in the forefront of the mobile communications industry, offering our subscribers and shareholders greater value.”

MyScreen ads are delivered at the end of every call, creating much better visibility than SMS texts and banner ads. Banner ads are only visible to consumers when they are browsing the Internet.

America Movil record in EMAT

Marco Quatorze record in EMAT

America Movil reported third-quarter revenues of MXN 99.8 billion, up 16.9 percent from a year earlier. Services revenues rose 19.5 percent on the back of strong data-revenue growth and a continued increase in the subscriber base. The company, which operates under the name Claro, added a net 4.0 million new susbcribers in the third quarter, of which almost a fourth were postpaid, for a total 194.3 million mobile and 3.8 million fixed-line users at the end of September. Brazil led the way with 1.8 million net gains, followed by Tracfone in the US with 712,000, Mexico with 280,000 and Argentina with 236,000. The company said it some signs of economic recovery in several countries during the quarter, especially in South America. However, subscriber growth remained below last year’s levels, apart from at Tracfone. EBITDA came in at MXN 40.4 billion, up 15.9 percent year-on-year, giving a margin similar to a year ago at 40.5 percent. Net profit jumped 50.6 percent to MXN 18.7 billion, driven by a 82.5 percent decline in financing costs thanks to foreign currency movements. America Movil spent MXN 25.5 billion on capital equipment in the first nine months of 2009, helping to take its 3G coverage to 70 percent of the population in its Latin America markets.