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 Business News | October 2007 
Mexico to Begin Antitrust Probe of Slim's Companies
 Adriana Arai - Bloomberg
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| | Mexican telecommunications billionaire Carlos Slim, speaks during a press conference prior to a meeting with Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, at the Presidential Palace, in Brasilia, Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2007. (AP /Eraldo Peres) |
Mexico's antitrust chief said regulators will re-open an investigation of billionaire Carlos Slim's telephone companies, Telefonos de Mexico SAB and America Movil SAB, within about three weeks.
Eduardo Perez Motta, president of the Federal Competition Commission, made the comment today during a speech in Mexico City. In July, he said the inquiry will identify markets where Telefonos de Mexico and America Movil have so much control that special regulations might be needed to encourage new entrants.
"We'll talk about this probe in the next few days," Perez Motta said at a conference organized by the commission. "I don't think it will take more than three weeks to start."
The investigation may lead the competition commission to declare Telefonos de Mexico, or Telmex, and America Movil's Telcel unit "dominant," clearing the way for the Federal Telecommunications Commission to issue special regulations to curb their market power, Perez Motta said.
Regulators are renewing attempts to rein in Slim's dominance in telecommunications more than 16 years after he bought a former phone monopoly from the government. Telmex had 91 percent of Mexico's fixed telephone lines as of March 31. Telcel has 77 percent of wireless subscribers in the country.
The commission will rely on an antitrust law enacted last year that gave the agency more power to punish practices deemed anticompetitive, Perez Motta said. Telmex has previously gotten every antitrust ruling against it overturned, including one in 1997 that declared the company dominant.
Telefonos de Mexico shares rose 12 centavos to 20.58 pesos at 12:52 p.m. New York time in Mexican trading. America Movil gained 40 centavos, or 1.1 percent, to 35.65 pesos.
To contact the reporter on this story: Adriana Arai in Mexico City at at aarai1@bloomberg.net |
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