Telmex profit plunges in Q3

Tel©fonos de Mexico, Mexico’s largest fixed-line telephone company owned by billionaire Carlos Slim has reported its Q3 results. The company saw 21.5% fall in profits as they face stiff competition from cable and mobile operators.

According to the company, net profits between July and September were US$306 million, even lower than analysts’ forecasts, which were for a drop of just over 19%.

In a statement, Telmex reported that its number of fixed lines fell 1.7 million during the past year to September to 15.6 million subscribers. That loss still left the company controlling 78.7% of Mexico’s fixed phone lines. Total sales during the quarter were US$2.29 billion, down 3.2% on the same quarter last year.

As per the analysts, Telmex faces stiffer competition from cable companies in Mexico, which offer their customers triple play packages of telephone, television and internet access.

In its statement on Monday, Telmex complained that the restrictions were depriving customers of the benefits of so-called convergence of technologies. This effect is delaying the development of the information society in the country.

Telmex confirmed that it had added 220,000 broadband subscribers between July and September to bring the total number to 7.3 million. During the same period last year, the company had 6.4 million broadband subscribers.