Mexican wireless operator Iusacell, owned by Grupo Salinas, has formed a strategic alliance with Telefonica in a bid to create a network that can compete with Carlos Slim’s America Movil.
Movistar, the brand Telefonica operates under in Mexico,…
Mexican wireless operator Iusacell, owned by Grupo Salinas, has formed a strategic alliance with Telefonica in a bid to create a network that can compete with Carlos Slim’s America Movil.
Movistar, the brand Telefonica operates under in Mexico, accounts for 20% of the Mexican market while Iusacell has 5%, but America Movil dwarfs them with 70%.
The partnership will see the operators share various network infrastructure such as wireless towers and fibre-optic cables, and will see the further development of LTE, 4G and wireless access points in Mexico.
The deal bears some similarities to the network management deal Telefonica struck in the UK with Vodafone last week, but falls short of creating a full fledged joint venture to pool network infrastructure, as it is the case in the UK.
