Mario López Estrada (21 March 1938 – 20 March 2023) was a Guatemalan

telecommunications Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...

businessman and billionaire. He was the president and main shareholder of

Tigo Guatemala TIGO, Comunicaciones Celulares, S.A. or just COMCEL is a mobile phone service provider company owned by the international mobile phone company Millicom or just MIC. In 2004 COMCEL changed their name to TIGO introducing their GSM Technology, new m ...

Biography

López Estrada studied Civil Engineering at Guatemala's San Carlos University. He started his professional career working as a public employee in Municipalidad de Guatemala (Guatemala City Hall) and Central Government. He then became an entrepreneur in the construction of roads across Guatemala and later housing projects. In 1972, he founded Constructora Maya, an independent construction company. From 1986 to 1991, he worked as Minister for Communications, Infrastructure and Housing during the government of President

Vinicio Cerezo Marco Vinicio Cerezo Arévalo (born 26 December 1942) is a Guatemalan politician and the current Secretary General of the Central American Integration System (SICA). He served as President of Guatemala from 14 January 1986 to 14 January 1991. ...

.Blake Schmidt
Carlos Slim Bested by Mobile Billionaire in Guatemala
''

Bloomberg Business ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...

'', 4 August 2014 In 1993, he acquired a share of Comunicaciones Celulares, the state-owned, monopolistic telecommunications company that was about to be privatized. His participation in Comcel grew to 45% through successive share purchases. Comcel became the country's largest

mobile phone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link whil ...

service provider and was renamed

. In 2021,

Millicom Millicom International Cellular SA (NASDAQ U.S.: TIGO, NASDAQ Stockholm: TIGO_SDB) is a Luxembourgish fixed line and mobile telecommunications services provider dedicated to emerging markets in Latin America operating under the Tigo brand. As of D ...

purchased López Estrada's 45% stake in Tigo for US$2.2 billion. In 2015, he became a

billionaire A billionaire is a person with a net worth of at least one billion (1,000,000,000, i.e., a thousand million) units of a given currency, usually of a major currency such as the United States dollar, euro, or pound sterling. The American busin ...

, according to ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

''. López Estrada was also the founder and President of the Board of Directors of Tigo Foundation. According to its website, Tigo Foundation is dedicated to support children in Guatemala with healthcare, education and sports. Their website also cites that from its foundation in 2009 to 2017, 250 schools have been built in the rural areas in Guatemala. López Estrada was also a minority stakeholder in the local newspaper '' Prensa Libre''.

Distinctions

*May 2017: "Excellence in Business Recognition" from ''

'' during the Genius Disruption forum in

Guatemala City Guatemala City ( es, Ciudad de Guatemala), known locally as Guatemala or Guate, is the capital and largest city of Guatemala, and the most populous urban area in Central America. The city is located in the south-central part of the country, nest ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lopez Estrada, Mario 1938 births 2023 deaths Guatemalan businesspeople Guatemalan billionaires Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala alumni People from Guatemala City

Biography

Distinctions

See also

References