Why Activists Don't Trust Mexico's New Antitrust Telecom Laws Manuel Larios and Daniel Hernandez - VICE News
go to original July 14, 2014

A demonstrator at a recent anti-telecom reform protest in Mexico City. (Alejandro Mendoza)

Stop by any Mexican customer-service center belonging to the dominant cell-phone carrier Telcel — owned by megabillionaire Carlos Slim — and it’s easy to distinguish new clients from returning customers.

New clients excitedly peer into display cases, ogle the various devices, and chat with vendors. Eventually they leave the building with a shiny blue Telcel bag and a smile on their face.

The returning customers, however, arrive at the “centro de atención al cliente” mostly to sit and wait. On a recent visit to one Telcel customer-service center in Mexico City, many people looked aggravated and frustrated, some pacing the center like caged animals.

Today, Telcel dominates 70 percent of Mexico’s mobile market. It is notorious for its shoddy service and rates that in 2013 were deemed the highest for cellular users among nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which includes the United States and most Western countries.

Waits can drag on for hours at service centers. Meanwhile, Telcel customers in dangerous regions of Mexico complain that their mobile signals often drop during narco shootouts just when they they need their phones most.

"They are like vampires," Mauro Enciso told VICE News as he waited to see a Telcel agent. "They suck money from you with small extra charges."

But all that might change thanks to a government plan to boost competition in Mexico’s quasi-duopolies.

Read the rest at VICE News

Marcha vs Ley Telecom #ContraElSilencioMx (Kaja Negra)

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