Mexican mobile telecommunications account for 57.1% of the total telecommunications revenue in Mexico, representing 58.323 million Mexican pesos (U.S.$4.38 million) in the first quarter of 2012,  an annual growth of 5.6%, according to the local consulting and market research firm Competitive Intelligence Unit (CIU).

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CIU noted the growing expansion of services and a corresponding decrease in prices.  The research firm said that almost a third of the revenue can be attributed to data plans, and this figure is expected to continue to rise. The deployment of LTE might also boost data plan revenue.

However, the segment has reached a methodological impasse in the number of lines because the main operator made a change at the end of last year, which reduced the number of reported lines. For this reason, CIU said that the number of lines grew just 1.7% to 95.1 million lines during the quarter, with 1.1 million net additions.

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CIU also reported on the competition among mobile carriers in Mexico. The firm noted that Movistar accounts for 19.2 million lines, representing 20.2% of total lines, although this share has decreased 5.9% compared to the previous year, representing a net loss of 531,000 lines. Movistar’s ARPU (average revenue per user) has also fallen to 94 Mexican pesos (U.S.$6.83), the lowest in the market.

CIU noted that Nextel has maintained an ARPU of 546 Mexican pesos (U.S.$41), the highest in the segment and three times the market average. Nextel maintains a 4% share of the number of lines, with a total of 3.8 million lines, and holds 12.2% of segment revenues.

According to CIU, lusacell, in turn, has had significant growth in its number of lines, reaching 5.4 million during the first quarter, corresponding to a market share of 5.7% and revenues of 3.298 million Mexican pesos (U.S.$247,798) in the last quarter. “This operator, despite having gone through an unstable financial situation, made a strong recovery because of its next-generation service offering; we hope that the new acquisition by Televisa contributes to the operator’s growing strength,” the report noted.

The revenues of market share leader Telcel grew by 6.8%, generating 41.298 million pesos (U.S. $3.103 million), equivalent to 70.8% of mobile revenues and 40.5% of the total industry, according to CIU.

“Stronger competition will result in lower levels of concentration, lower prices and higher quality for end consumers, thereby promoting widespread access for the population, which is necessary to increase national productivity,” the report said.

>>>To better understand what is happening in the Mexican wireless market, download the RCR Wireless News feature report for free in both English (download here) and Spanish (download here). The report provides a great overview with insights from several specialists on the telecommunications sector in Mexico.