America Movil is still keen to reduce its market share in Mexico in order to get the regulator onside, but it is unlikely to sell off assets to achieve its goal.
The Mexican operator said that changes in the market – specifically, the entry of AT&T – have led it to re-examine its options.
"I don’t think we are interested anymore in selling assets," said America Movil CEO Daniel Hajj, speaking on a conference call to discuss the telco’s first quarter results last week.
"We don’t want to sell frequencies or infrastructure, so we are reviewing exactly how the market is going to be in Mexico," Hajj said. "And then we’re going to take the decision what we’re going to sell to reduce our market share and not be a preponderant player," he said.
Mexico’s new telecoms regulator Ifetel, or IFT, in March last year ruled America Movil to be a "preponderant economic agent in the telecommunications market" and introduced a series of asymmetric regulations designed the curb the telco’s market dominance.
In July America Movil shared plans to sell off a portfolio of fixed and mobile assets that would reduce its market share and facilitate the entry of a new competitor. In addition, America Movil hoped the move would help it in its quest to gain a licence to offer TV services. It never specified what that portfolio of assets would contain though.
AT&T was frequently named as the most likely buyer for whatever America Movil planned to sell, but in November the U.S. telco announced the acquisition of Mexico’s third largest mobile operator Iusacell for $2.5 billion and followed that up by purchasing market minnow Nextel for $1.88 billion.
As a result of AT&T’s acquisitions, America Movil has a "new view" of the shape of the Mexican market, Hajj said. As a result, "we are reviewing…how we can reduce our market share," he said.
"We are still interested in not being a preponderant player" he confirmed, but did not share any further details on how the company might seek to achieve that.
