Mexican telco America Movil has got approval to remove the shares of the fixed-line unit of its subsidiary Telmex Internacional from the Mexican stock exchange, according to media reports.
Bloomberg reported yesterday that the move was aimed by America…
Mexican telco America Movil has got approval to remove the shares of the fixed-line unit of its subsidiary Telmex Internacional from the Mexican stock exchange, according to media reports.
Bloomberg reported yesterday that the move was aimed by America Movil, which is controlled by telecoms magnate Carlos Slim, at merging its mobile phones and land lines on to a single network.
Telmex Internacional shareholders reportedly voted in favour of the delisting today.
According to the report, America Movil is aiming to save on network investments by using a single internet-based network of fibre-optic cables to carry data for telephone calls and internet use in Latin America.
America Movil bought out the shareholders of Telmex Internacional in June 2010.
The move appears to be part of a wider strategy by Slim to consolidate his assets in Central and Latin America.
America Movil first made its offer to takeover Telmex and Telmex Internacional (which was spun off from Telmex in 2008) in January 2010.
Merging these operations into a single business would create a dominant operator in Mexico and across the region.
Meanwhile, the Mexican government has been taking steps to increase competition in the telecoms sector over the last six months.
It conducted a fibre-optic auction in July 2010, in which America Movil was not allowed to enter. More recently, the new telecoms minister Dionisio Perez Jacome has reportedly emphasised the importance of an environment of competition in the sector.
