Will 2014 Be The Year Mexican Tycoon Carlos Slim's Telecom Empire Crumbles? Dolia Estevez - Forbes
go to original January 22, 2014

2014 could be the year that Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim sees his telecom empire disintegrate. At the end of 2013, Mexico’s Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) said the process of opening up Slim’s monopoly on the phone market has begun, Mexican media and U.S. business wires reported.

The IFT, a newly created regulatory body, said in its first quarterly report that it has started the procedure whereby América Móvil, the dominant telephone operator (controlled by Carlos Slim), would have to share with other operators the so-called “last mile” of its network that connects phone and Internet directly to customers.

América Móvil, the largest mobile phone network operator in the Americas,  currently controls 80% of Mexico’s landline phone market through Telmex, and 70% of the wireless market, through affiliate Telcel.

The IFT, an independent regulatory panel, was created in 2013 as part of a far-reaching telecom reform bill designed to boost competition in Mexico’s telephone and television industries, currently control by Slim and fellow billionaire Emilio Azcarraga Jean, CEO of  Grupo Televisa (SAB). Televisa captures close to 70% of Mexico’s broadcast television audience. The new law sets a market share cap for both telephones and TV of no higher than 50%.

The IFT recently told América Móvil and Grupo Televisa that they were placed under preliminary review to determine whether they are dominant players in the telecom sector.  The IFT has until March 9 to issue its final findings.

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