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 Technology News | November 2005 
Telmex Eyes U.S. Hispanic Market with New Service
 Cyntia Barrera Diaz - Reuters
| | Telmex, one of the key assets of Slim's retail and telecommunications empire that made him the world's fourth-richest man, said the service will be available across Mexico starting next week. |
Mexico City - Mexican telecommunications giant Telmex, owned by billionaire Carlos Slim, will launch a videoconferencing service for residential clients that could expand to the profitable U.S. Hispanic market soon.
Telmex, one of the key assets of Slim's retail and telecommunications empire that made him the world's fourth-richest man, said the service will be available across Mexico starting next week.
The service will also be launched in other markets where Telmex operates, "including the United States," Chief Executive Jaime Chico Pardo told reporters on Tuesday.
He declined to give any sales outlook for the new service.
Although Telmex has operations in Mexico and six other Latin American countries, the United States has remained an elusive market.
Telmex has only a small U.S. operation that sells prepaid phone cards and offers people living in the United States the option to pay for the installation of a phone line in Mexico.
About 14 percent of the total U.S. population is Hispanic and of that group, 75 percent is of Mexican descent.
Telmex (TMX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) (TELMEXL.MX: Quote, Profile, Research), a former state-owned monopoly that Slim turned into a cash cow in the mid-1990s, has struggled in recent years to boost revenue as cheaper cellular phone services have cannibalized its market share.
Cellular phones in Mexico more than double the number of fixed lines.
The arrival of new competitors to its core market of fixed-line services, including long distance calls, also has hurt the company's profits.
In a bid to remain attractive to clients, Telmex decided to freeze local phone fees for a sixth consecutive year in 2006, forcing it to spike marketing efforts and design new services to boost traffic and keep customers from switching to competitors or cellular providers.
The videoconferencing service will have a price of one peso ($0.09) per minute of use. The phone set with a color screen has a price of over $200 that Telmex will partially amortize by charging clients monthly fees of 89 pesos ($8.40) over two years.
According to Telmex, only Italy and Greece offer a similar service. |
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