Telmex is a Mexican
telecommunication
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 ...
s company headquartered in
Mexico City
Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...
that provides telecommunications products and services in Mexico. Telmex is still the dominant fixed-line phone carrier in Mexico. In addition to traditional fixed-line telephone service, Telmex offers
Internet access through their
Infinitum brand of Wi-Fi networks, data, hosted services and IT services. Telmex owns 90 percent of the telephone lines in Mexico City and 80 percent of the lines in the country. Telmex is a wholly owned subsidiary of
América Móvil
América Móvil is a Mexican telecommunications corporation headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico. It is the 7th largest mobile network operator in terms of equity subscribers and one of the largest corporations in the world. América Móvil is a ...
.
History
![Telmex payphone](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/28/Telmex_payphone.jpg)
Telmex was founded in Mexico the , when a group of Mexican investors bought Swedish
Ericsson
(lit. "Telephone Stock Company of LM Ericsson"), commonly known as Ericsson, is a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company headquartered in Stockholm. The company sells infrastructure, software, and services in informa ...
's Mexican branch. In 1950, the same investors bought the Mexican branch of the
ITT Corporation, thus becoming the only telephone provider in the country. In 1972, the
Mexican government
The Federal government of Mexico (alternately known as the Government of the Republic or ' or ') is the national government of the United Mexican States, the central government established by its constitution to share sovereignty over the republi ...
bought the company.
In 1990, Telmex was bought by a group of investors formed principally by
Carlos Slim Helú
Carlos Slim Helú (; born 28 January 1940) is a Mexican business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. From 2010 to 2013, Slim was ranked as the richest person in the world by the ''Forbes'' business magazine. He derived his fortune from hi ...
,
France Télécom, and
Southwestern Bell Corporation
AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile te ...
, whose tender was the largest. However, controversially, the payment itself took place over the course of the next several years, using revenues from the phone service.
After privatization, Telmex began investing in new modern infrastructure, creating a partial
fiber optic
An optical fiber, or optical fibre in Commonwealth English, is a flexible, transparent fiber made by drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a human hair. Optical fibers are used most often as a means t ...
network throughout the nation, thus offering service to 30% of the Mexican territory.
In 1991, the Mexican government sold its remaining stock in Telmex.
Although, Telmex is now a private company, it stills remains as a quasi-monopoly. There are other telephone companies in Mexico, but they have failed to compete with Telmex. Among these companies are: Alestra,
Axtel
Axtel S.A.B. de C.V., known as Axtel, is a Mexican telecommunications company headquartered in San Pedro, near Monterrey. It offers telephone, internet, and television services through FTTH in 45 cities of Mexico as well as IT Services. It is ...
, Maxcom,
Megacable
Megacable Holdings S. A. B. de C.V., doing business as Megacable Comunicaciones, is a Mexican cable operator and provider of internet and phone service. It has its headquarters in, Guadalajara, Jalisco.[Televisa
Grupo Televisa is a Mexican multimedia mass media company. A major Latin American mass media corporation, it often presents itself as the largest producer of Spanish-language content.
In April 2021, Televisa and Univision Communications announce ...]
-owned subsidiaries (
Izzi/
Cablemás
Cablemás was a Mexican regional telecommunications company, owned by Grupo Televisa. The company had a triple play-based service, consisting on subscription television, phone line and broadband internet offered in a single package deal. The comp ...
).
Cellphone mobile unit
![Hotel Mariott in Lima](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Hotel_Mariott_in_Lima.jpg)
In the 1990s, mobile telephones were becoming popular among the general population. The early market leader was
Iusacell
AT&T Mexico (formerly known as Iusacell and Nextel Mexico), also known as AT&T Mexico Wireless and AT&T Mexico Mobility, is a Mexican mobile telephone operator and subsidiary of AT&T. AT&T Mexico is headquartered in Mexico City. Its mobile networ ...
, and Telmex had no presence in the market. This prompted Telmex to form a subsidiary to provide mobile communications. The subsidiary was Radio Móvil Dipsa, and it offered service under the brand
Telcel
Telcel is a Mexican wireless telecommunications company, owned by América Móvil. Founded in 1984 and based in Mexico City, Telcel is the leading provider of wireless communications services in Mexico. As of December 31, 2006, Telcel's cellular ...
. Telcel started out in a distant second place in its mobile market, but in 1995 everything changed, when the Mexican currency crisis hit many Mexicans hard. Iusacell decided to stay with wealthier customers, offering expensive plans, whereas Telcel began to offer the first prepaid mobile phone plans. Although, in effect, just as expensive as the contracts offered by Iusacell, the success of its prepaid plans ultimately provided Telcel the growth needed to become the leader in the mobile market within two years.
In 2000, Telmex spun off their mobile unit, creating
América Móvil
América Móvil is a Mexican telecommunications corporation headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico. It is the 7th largest mobile network operator in terms of equity subscribers and one of the largest corporations in the world. América Móvil is a ...
, which controls Radio Móvil Dipsa and was free to develop its own business as an independent entity. It started with 80% of the mobile market.
In 2010, America Móvil (an independent company from its former parent company, Telmex) bought 60% of Telmex, paying over 23 billion dollars. In 2011, America Móvil purchased the remaining 40% of Telmex. In August 2012, America Móvil started the process to de-list Telmex from the Mexican Stock Exchange.
Internet
In the mid-1990s, Telmex began providing
Internet access as an
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise privat ...
(ISP) with the brand
Uninet
Telmex is a Mexican telecommunications company headquartered in Mexico City that provides telecommunications products and services in Mexico. Telmex is still the dominant fixed-line phone carrier in Mexico. In addition to traditional fixed-line ...
. A year later, the brand was changed to Telmex Internet Directo Personal (Telmex Direct Personal Internet). In 1996, Telmex bought
Prodigy Communications and took the brand to Mexico, renaming the service Prodigy Internet de Telmex. Thanks to their national coverage, Telmex rapidly became the leading national ISP. , Telmex holds more than 80% of the market as an ISP, and is also the leader in broadband access with its brand Prodigy Infinitum (ADSL).
In 2001, Telmex sold the U.S. branch of
Prodigy Communications to
SBC, which was dubbed SBC Prodigy. However, Telmex continues to own and operate Prodigy in Mexico. In 2004, Telmex claimed that the number of users of Prodigy Internet grew by 190%..
Telmex dropped the Prodigy name from its advertising in 2009, replacing it with the "Infinitum" brand of Telmex internet services since that year. The name Prodigy is still used in the Mexican local site of
MSN.
Television
Telmex owns TV UNO and Claro Sports.
Long-distance competition
In the mid-1990s,
AT&T Corporation
AT&T Corporation, originally the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is the subsidiary of AT&T Inc. that provides voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications and professional services to businesses, consumers, and government agen ...
and
WorldCom
MCI, Inc. (subsequently Worldcom and MCI WorldCom) was a telecommunications company. For a time, it was the second largest long-distance telephone company in the United States, after AT&T. Worldcom grew largely by acquiring other telecommunic ...
(
MCI), among others, began operating in Mexico, representing for the first time serious competition to Telmex. However, due to Telmex's incumbent monopoly position and well-developed infrastructure and coverage, none of them were believed to pose much threat to Telmex.
Expansion
![Torre_de_teléfonos_de_Telmex](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Torre_de_tel%C3%A9fonos_de_Telmex.jpeg/1200px-Torre_de_tel%C3%A9fonos_de_Telmex.jpeg)
After spinning off América Móvil, Telmex started an expansion plan, which started with the purchase of Guatemala's
Telgua. Later, Telmex bought former state-owned phone companies in Central America, and began operations in the US with Telmex USA.
In 2004, Telmex went into a shopping spree for undervalued operators in South America, including the purchase of AT&T's Latin American operations, giving it presence in
Colombia,
Venezuela
Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
,
Peru
, image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg
, image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg
, other_symbol = Great Seal of the State
, other_symbol_type = National seal
, national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...
,
Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
,
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
,
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, and
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
, and increased reach in the United States. In the same year, Telmex bought from MCI Brazil's largest and most important long-distance operator,
Embratel
Embratel is a major Brazilian telecommunications company headquartered in Rio de Janeiro. The company was the long distance arm of Telebras until it was bought by the U.S. company MCI Communications for 2.65 billion reais during the 1998 break ...
, acquired Chile's Chilesat, took control of Argentina's Techtel (operating in Argentina and Uruguay), of which it already owned 60%, by purchasing the remaining 40% from the Techint group, and purchased Argentina's Metrored. In the US, Telmex bought 13.4% of bankrupt MCI.
At the same time, sister company America Movil pursued a similar strategy by acquiring cellular operators CTI Movil in Argentina and Uruguay, Claro in Brazil and Peru, Porta in Ecuador and Comcel in Colombia.
In 2005, Telmex sold its holdings in MCI to Verizon.
As of January 2006, Telmex continued buying assets in Latin America and in the USA.
![TELEFONO TELMEX](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/TELEFONO_TELMEX.jpg)
In March 2006, there were rumors that Telmex was buying Verizon operations in the
Caribbean. The reports said that the operation can include the wireless operation on each market. The total amount of this sale was estimated at nearly US$300 million.
In November 2006, an American embassy cable released via
WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks () is an international non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder and director and ...
listed Telmex as among "Mexico's monopolists", with a 95% share of landlines. Its sister company
Telcel
Telcel is a Mexican wireless telecommunications company, owned by América Móvil. Founded in 1984 and based in Mexico City, Telcel is the leading provider of wireless communications services in Mexico. As of December 31, 2006, Telcel's cellular ...
was listed with a market share of 80% of cellular service.
![Telmex payphone, Puerto Vallarta (2014) - 02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Telmex_payphone%2C_Puerto_Vallarta_%282014%29_-_02.JPG)
In December 2006, Telmex announced agreement to acquire TV Cable and Cable Pacifico in Colombia.
TV Cable offers cable television, Internet and Voice over IP services and has been in operation for 20 years. , the company serves 164,000 homes in
Bogotá and
Cali.
Cable Pacifico serves nine states and its main operation is in
Medellín. , Cable Pacifico has approximately 100,000 subscribers.
In January 2007, America Movil bought the Verizon operations in Puerto Rico, and days later Telmex and America Movil announced that their equally owned joint venture had agreed with Verizon Communications Inc. ("Verizon") to terminate the joint venture's agreement to acquire Verizon's indirect equity interests in Compañía Anónima Nacional Teléfonos de Venezuela (CANTV); subsequently, all of Verizon's holdings in CANTV were acquired in May 2007 by the Venezuelan government, reaching 86.2% of its total shares.
In January 2007, Telmex launched Prodigy Media, the first step to offer triple play services to the Mexican market. Days later, Telmex started the first Wi-Max network in Chile, offering local, long-distance and Internet services to 98% of the Chilean population.
In March 2007, Telmex bought Ecutel, a small telecommunications company in Ecuador that offers services to the corporate market.
In April 2007, Telmex announced agreement to acquire CABLECENTRO and SATELCARIBE in Colombia.
CABLECENTRO offers cable TV and Internet access services and has been in operation for 7 years. Currently, the company operates in more than 50 cities in Colombia including Bogota, Cucuta, Bucaramanga, Ibague and Neiva, among others.
SATELCARIBE offers cable TV and Internet access services and has been in operation for 7 years. Currently, the company operates in more than 15 cities in Colombia including Cartagena, Santa Marta, Valledupar, Sincelejo and Monteria.
In December 2007, Telmex transferred its Latin American and yellow pages directory businesses to a new, separate entity, Telmex Internacional.
América Móvil takeover
In January 2010,
América Móvil
América Móvil is a Mexican telecommunications corporation headquartered in Mexico City, Mexico. It is the 7th largest mobile network operator in terms of equity subscribers and one of the largest corporations in the world. América Móvil is a ...
, the largest mobile phone company in Latin America, made an offer to buy Telmex and Telmex International in order to better compete against Spain's
Telefonica and Malaysia's
Telekom Malaysia
Telekom Malaysia Berhad (TM) is a Malaysian telecommunications company founded in 1984. Beginning as the national telecommunications company for fixed line, radio and television broadcasting services, it has evolved to become the country's larg ...
. The acquisition was approved by the CFC (Comisión Federal de Competencia) Antitrust Office in Mexico on February 11, 2010.
América Móvil was once the mobile arm of Telmex, but in 2001, América Móvil was split off and grew larger than the former parent company.
[https://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100211-718932.html ]
References
External links
*
USA operationsTV Uno
{{Major telecommunications companies
Mexican companies established in 1947
América Móvil
Companies based in Mexico City
Internet service providers of Mexico
Mexican brands
Mobile phone companies of Mexico
Telecommunications companies established in 1947