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Mobile phones to replace hard cash in Mexico for small payements (Mexico)

  • August 26th, 2008
  • 7:21 am

Tech savvy teenagers of Mexicans will soon be able to use their mobile phones for making small payements such as restaurant meals and taxi rides. Mobile operators like Telefonica SA and Iusacell are teaming up with banks such as  Citigroup and BBVA to instigate the service, targeting technology savvy teenagers and anticipated to introduce the service soon.

Roberto Rodriguez, in charge of the service, said Cell phone users will be able to have their bank link their savings account to their telephone so they can make payments to participating stores, restaurants and taxis by sending a text message.

America Movil’s Telcel has yet to sign up with bank though it accounts for more than two-thirds of Mexico’s mobile pones.

In a country like Japan, using mobile phones as a medium to purchase items such as train tickets to purchase items is quite common but it is yet pace up in United States.

Mexico’s Mobile Market Profile

  • August 12th, 2008
  • 5:52 am

Mexico’s mobile industry is growing at a yearly rate of around 22%, reaching an estimated 60% penetration by September 2007. Mexico market is driven by a booming GSM market. Three major mobile operators: América Móvil’s Telcel and Telefónica’s Movistar offer GSM services, while Grupo Iusacell (recently merged with Unefón) uses CDMA technology. A fourth operator, Nextel de México, operates a mobile trunking system using the iDEN mobile communications standard. Despite increased competition since 2000, Telcel still dominates market share. Between 2003 and 2007, Mexican mobile operators have been upgrading their networks to offer high-capacity and high-speed data services, such as EDGE, 1xRTT and 1x EV-DO.

Highlights of 2Q ‘08 Mexico Mobile Forecast include:

*  Total subscribers in Mexico will increase from our projected 79.2 million in 2008 to a forecasted 98.5 million in 2010. The wireless penetration level of the country will continue rising and we expect it to reach 91.5% in 2010.

* Telcel will continue to be the largest operator in the country. We expect it to serve 66.6 million out of 98.5 million subscribers in Mexico in 2010. We are also forecasting that Telcel will enjoy the highest EBITDA margin of 55.0% in 2010.

* However, Telcel’s market share (by subscribers) is expected to decline from 70.3% in 2008 to 67.6% in 2010 as its competitors - Movistar Mexico and Nextel - continue gaining market shares.

* In 2010, the average ARPU in Mexico will be US$ 17.96 per month, or the highest ARPU in our seven-country Latin America coverage list. While the largest operator, Telcel, will register an ARPU level of US$ 16.71, we are forecasting that Nextel will receive a much higher ARPU of $65.38 per month in 2010.

Statistics as follows:

Operators           Subscribers                  Ownership

  • Telcel           52.852 (June 2008)         América Móvil (100%)
  • Movistar        3.306 (March 2008)        Telefónica
  • Iusacell           3.97 (March 2008)         Grupo Salinas (76%), Publicly Traded (23%)
  • NEXTEL           2.2697 (March 2008)       NIL Holdings

Source: Wikipedia.org

Movistar signs interconnection agreement with Nextel (Mexico)

  • June 6th, 2008
  • 2:46 pm

Telefonica-owned Movistar has announced that it has allowed digital trunking operator Nextel de Mexico to interconnect with its networks using the calling party pays (CPP) mechanism. The move follows a filing of a complaint by Nextel last week claiming that Movistar had cut off interconnection for five days after Nextel implemented CPP. In November 2007 the regulator Cofetel gave to country’s mobile operators until that December to interconnect with Nextel, but only Telcel managed to do so. Following the Movistar agreement, Iusacell is now the only operator yet to ink a deal with Nextel.

In separate news, BNamericas has revealed that Mexico’s permanent congressional committee has approved a proposal to investigate whether Francisco Gil Diaz, currently president of Movistar, showed favouritism towards the cellco when he was finance minister during the administration of Vicente Fox.

   

 
 

Iusacell contracts RFS for supply of equipment (Mexico)

  • September 20th, 2007
  • 10:48 am

Mexican cellco Iusacell has engaged the services of Radio Frequency Systems Mexico (RFS Mexico) to assist with the expansion and enhancement of Iusacell’s mobile network to support CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Rev. A, being carried out by Alcatel-Lucent. RFS is providing 4,500 broadband base station antennae and 1,200 microwave aerials. In a related project RFS is also directly suppling Iusacell with approximately 100km of transmission lines and accessories for 300 base station sites. The nationwide network is due to for completion by July 2008. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database, Iusacell is Mexico’s third largest cellular service provider by subscribers, with a customer base of 3.9 million at the end of June 2007.

   

 

 

Mexico’s Iusacell, Unefon to merge mobile networks (Mexico)

  • September 3rd, 2007
  • 2:23 pm

Grupo Iusacell, Mexico-based mobile telecommunications services provider, will merge its phone network with that of Unefon, following Grupo Salinas’ purchase of Unefon. The merger will create a single network, will expand Iusacell’s coverage and capacity, and will make more efficient the transfer.

   

 

 

 

Iusacell reports 27% revenue growth

  • July 30th, 2007
  • 3:06 pm

Mexican wireless network operator Iusacell has announced a 27% increase in 2Q revenues to MXP2.44 billion (USD222 million), while EBITDA rose 32% to MXP98 million, helping the company report a net income of MXP1.04 billion from a net loss of MXP899 million in the same period of 2006. Growth came mainly as a result of the incorporation of Unefon’s revenues into the consolidated numbers. At the end of June the merged company claimed 3.9 million subscribers.

   

 

Iusacell extends Rev A service to 10 cities with Nortel

  • June 15th, 2007
  • 11:11 am

Nortel is expanding Grupo Iusacell’s mobile network to offer 3.5G mobile broadband services to ten new cities in Mexico. Nortel’s EV-DO Rev A technology will boost capabilities of Iusacell’s existing CDMA network to support high-bandwidth mobile services like mobile VoIP, broadcast quality TV and video monitoring. Under the agreement, Nortel will provide CDMA2000 1XEV-DO Revision A radio base stations, radio network controllers, switching platforms and other related equipment across Iusacell’s existing network.

   

Alcatel-Lucent wins Iusacell 1xEV-DO Rev. A contract

  • March 29th, 2007
  • 4:40 pm

Telegeography writes…Alcatel-Lucent and Iusacell, the Mexican CDMA network operator, have announced a one-year contract to expand and enhance Iusacell’s existing mobile network to support CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Rev. A technology. The upgrade will enable Iusacell to continue the deployment of services such as IusaTV, BAM-Banda Ancha Móvil (mobile broadband services) and other multimedia services such as video telephony to its consumer base.

As part of this project, which will begin in June 2007, Iusacell’s existing Alcatel-Lucent-supplied base stations and core network will be upgraded to support EV-DO Rev. A technology. Alcatel-Lucent will also provide its 9400 AWY Digital Microwave Radio links to transport network traffic and transmission lines and antennas. In addition, Alcatel-Lucent will provide integration, deployment, maintenance and project management services.

 

Mexican mobile operators Iusacell, Unefon to merge

  • August 15th, 2006
  • 3:00 pm

MEXICO CITY, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Mexican cellular phone operators Iusacell and Unefon said on Wednesday they had agreed to merge and aimed to create the country’s second-largest mobile service provider.

The merger of the two companies, both controlled by Mexican industrialist Ricardo Salinas, follows Iusacell’s (CEL.MX: Quote, Profile, Research) restructuring of $350 million of debt, completed on Aug. 28.

Unefon Holdings SA (UNEFONA.MX: Quote, Profile, Research) also said on Wednesday it would acquire a 45.6 percent stake in Unefon to bring its ownership to 100 percent. It said it would buy the stock from the family of key shareholder Moises Saba for $300 million.

Merging Iusacell and Unefon will create a company with around 3.3 million subscribers, putting it in third place in terms of subscriber numbers behind market leader America Movil (AMXL.MX: Quote, Profile, Research) with 39.2 million and Telefonica Moviles (TEF.MC: Quote, Profile, Research) with some 6.9 million.

Iusacell said it was aiming for the merger to lift it to the number two spot in terms of total mobile voice and data services.

Spokesmen for the companies were not available to give further details.

The move had been anticipated by investors. Iusacell’s shares have more than doubled in value in the last six months on rumours of the merger, as well as on the company’s debt restructuring.

Citigroup said in a report last month that if the merger went ahead, “the additional benefit on Iusacell’s stock from current levels could be substantial”.

Iusacell shares ended Wednesday down 4.7 percent at 67.69 pesos. The merger announcement came after the market closed.

Unefon shares do not trade regularly.

Salinas

, among

Mexico

’s richest men, bought Iusacell in 2003. He promised at the time to come up with a business plan to expand its presence in the Mexican market.

Source- http://today.reuters.com

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