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Mexico: America Movil may soon see challenger

By  |  February 5, 2014

As recent competition laws in Mexico are set to declare telco giant America Movil a dominant company, reports say Telefonica is in possible merger talks to establish a company to rival Carlos Sims’s company.

Telefonica could be working on a deal to merge with Grupo Iusacell to rival America Movil, which reportedly holds about 70 percent of the wireless operations market in Mexico. A Telefonica deal with Iusacell would reportedly lead to control of the rest of that market.

While merger discussions were not confirmed, an earlier deal struck in 2012 valued Iusacell at about $3.2 billion as competitor Televisa acquired a 50 percent stake in the company.

The merger would coincide with Congress’s efforts to boost competition in a stagnant market through legislation that would allow authorities to more effectively police dominant companies.

Full Content: Businessweek

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