The Mexican Federal Antitrust Commission (Comisión Federal de Competencia or CFC –Cofeco) has revoked a $925 million (11,989 million Mexican Pesos) April 2011 fine against Telcel for alleged monopolistic practices in the mobile termination market.
Telcel belongs to the América Móvil group, which is controlled by Mexican magnate Carlos Slim, whose fortune is estimated at $69 billion.
Regulators had claimed Telcel overcharged competitors to connect calls to Telcel users, but the company appealed the fine. Telcel controls about 70% of Mexico’s wireless market share. The commission has not explained why the fine was overturned.
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According to the latest report from the Competitive Intelligence Unit, Mexico counts 94 million mobile lines, of which 85.4% are prepaid. By the end of 2011, about 15.5% of its total wireless lines were accessed by smartphones.
América Móvil made the announcement late Wednesday. The company is the leading provider of wireless services in Latin America, as measured by the number of subscribers. As of March 31, it had 246 million wireless subscribers across the region.
