Digicel completes acquisition of Claro (Jamaica)
Digicel, a leading mobile telecommunications operator in the Caribbean, has completed the acquisition of America Movil’s Jamaican unit, Claro. According to reports, the operators entered into an agreement wherein Digicel would acquire Claro and sell its assets in Honduras and El Salvador to America Movil.
As per sources, Digicel will reduce the calling charges by US$ 0.035 during peak hours and US$ 0.023 during off-peak hours, across its networks. Further,the acquisition will provide Digicel with 3G access in its domestic market. If sources are to be believed, Digicel is expected to receive a net payment of as much as US$ 350 million in cash for this deal.
AT&T and America Movil to offer IP services for corporates (Latin America)
America Movil, a leading wireless service provider in Latin America has reportedly tied up with American operator AT&T to offer IP services to large corporate organisations within Latin America as well as in Asia and the Middle East.
According to reports, the agreement between the two operators will allow AT&T to access America Movil’s networks across 15 countries in the region, whereas America Movil will be able to use AT&T’s network infrastructure to provide large corporate IP services in the US along with the rest of the world.
Sources claim that the two operators plan to offer multinational companies working in Latin America with a Virtual Private Network (VPN) as its primary offering. Further, Roman Pacewicz, senior vice president (marketing and global strategy), AT&T Business Solutions has said that as part of AT&T’s commitment to deliver consistent and seamless global services for their enterprise customers, they continue to evolve their strategy to establish alliances in key regions in the world which will in turn enable multinational companies to compete better globally.
America Movil to cut down interconnection costs (Mexico)
America Movil’s Mexican unit has reportedly agreed to lower the interconnection costs with four operators. Interconnection cost is the charge levied by network operators on other service providers to recover the costs of the interconnection facilities (including the hardware and software for routing, signalling, and other basic service functions) provided by the network operators.
According to reports, telecom regulatory authority, Cofetel, had asked America Movil’s Telecel unit to reduce the charges in an attempt to improve the competition in the mobile phone market. As per sources, Telecel is expected to reduce the interconnection costs progressively to US$ 0.026 in 2012, US$ 0.024 in 2013 and US$ 0.022 in 2014 from US$ 0.028.
Reports suggest that the regulator has said that the deal includes traffic with NII Holdings Inc’s Mexican unit, Nextel Mexico; America Movil’s fixed-line affiliate Telefonos de Mexico and Marcatel.
America Movil’s increases its stake in Telemex to 93 percent (Latin America)
America Movile, the leading wireless service provider in Latin America, has reportedly said its stake in Telmex has gone up from 60 percent to as much as 93 percent, as a consequence of a shareholder buyout offer. According to reports, the operator will be required to pay around US$ 4.6 billion, to increase its holding, for which the company reportedly sold bonds worth over US$ 5 billion in the UK, Japan, Switzerland and the US since August this year.
As per industry reports, in August, Carlos Slim, Chairman, America Movil had said that they were looking to restructure their telecoms empire by buying out a 40.4 percent stake in Telmex for US$ 0.77 per share in an attempt to reduce administrative costs along with improving its competitiveness in the market.
America Movil and Citigroup to launch mobile banking services (Latin America)
America Movil, Mexico based wireless service provider, has reportedly entered into a joint venture with Citigroup to provide mobile banking services in Latin America. The $50 million venture has been named ‘Transfer’ and is expected to begin in Mexico by early next year.
As per reports, the joint venture will enable customers to open bank accounts, transfer money, withdraw cash from the ATMs along with shop, receive payments and pay bills via their mobile handsets. The service will initially be offered to clients of Citi’s Mexican subsidiary, Banamex and Telcel.
Manuel Medina-Mora, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Latin America & Mexico of Citigroup Inc. has reportedly said that the governments could use ‘Transfer’ as a platform for making benefits available to the poor, as well as for civil service payroll.
Telmex to rebrand as Claro in Ecuador
America Movil is all set to rebrand its Ecuador fixed-line unit Telmex as Claro.
The re-branding decision is part of a strategy being implemented by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim across America Movil’s subsidiaries in the region.
America Movil currently operates under the Claro brand name in 14 Lain American countries. America Movil recently rebranded its Ecuador mobile unit as Claro.
According to the company, the use of the Claro brand name does not include a merger of the two companies, as both continue to operate independently in their respective businesses.
Conecel rebrands as Claro in Ecuador
An America Movil subsidiary, Conecel has officially stopped using the Porta brand name in Ecuador. As per the latest reports, the company will only operate under the Claro brand name.
America Movil currently operates under the Claro brand name in 14 Lain American countries. Conecel is also planning to introduce the new Claro logo in all its customer service centres by end-March and in all its sales points by end-April. Claro has over 70,000 sales points across Ecuador.
LIME wants regulator to assess Digicel-Claro deal (Jamaica)
LIME Jamaica has stated that given the significance of the Digicel- Claro merger to the Jamaican telecommunications industry, the Government, the Office of Utilities Regulations (OUR) and the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) should carefully assess the deal, before approval is given by the relevant minister.
Digicel and Claro last week announced that Digicel would sell its businesses in El Salvador and Honduras to America Movil, while in turn Claro Jamaica would be sold to Digicel.
According to Lime’s Managing Director, Garry Sinclair, as a company proudly serving Jamaica for over 140 years, providing employment for more than 1,400 Jamaican workers and with almost 25,000 Jamaican shareholders, they stand ready to cooperate with all industry players to ensure the interests of their country and the Jamaican consumer are best served.
Digicel buys rival network in Jamaica
Pan-Caribbean operator, Digicel has announced that it has signed an agreement with America Movil to acquire its Claro business in Jamaica, and to sell to America Movil its businesses in El Salvador and Honduras.
According to the companies, the financial terms of the transaction are not being disclosed; however, there will be a net cash payment to Digicel.
Digicel is already the dominant operator in Jamaica after it broke the former Cable & Wireless monopoly. Claro was relaunched a couple of years ago with a huge marketing push, particularly aimed at the youth market.
Digicel confirmed that the transaction is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the second calendar quarter.
Carlos Slim ranks as the world’s richest person the second time
The annual “rich list” from Forbes Magazine has revealed that Mexico’s telecoms tycoon, Carlos Slim has seen his personal fortune jump by more than a third over the past year to reach US$74 billion. Microsoft founder turned Philanthropist, Bill Gates is second with a fortune of US$56 billion.
Carlos Slim is the chairman and CEO of telecommunications companies Telmex and America Movil and has extensive holdings in other Mexican companies through his conglomerate, Grupo Carso, as well as business interests elsewhere in the world. America Movil, which at 2010 was Latin America’s largest mobile-phone carrier, accounted for around US$49 billion of his wealth by the end of 2010.
According to Forbes, over 200 people joined the billionaires list over the past year, taking the global total to a record high of 1,210 billionaires. Six of the billionaires are linked to the Facebook website, including Dustin Moskovitz, who is the youngest person on the list at 26.
Ikea founder, Ingvar Kamprad, who controversially hides his assets via a Dutch charity for tax reasons, saw his personal fortune drop from US$17 billion to US$6 billion.
The collective wealth of the billionaires on the list also hit a new record of $4.5 trillion.
Asia also overtook Europe for having the most billionaires, with 332 to 300, while the USA remained the top region with 413 billionaires. China and Russia have 115 and 101 billionaires respectively, with Moscow now home to more billionaires than any other city in the world.
