2015 Mexico - Telecoms, Mobile, Broadband and Digital Media - Statistics and Analyses

Mexican telecom market shaken up by AT&T presence

Given a population of around 120 million and relatively low penetration in all sectors, Mexico’s telecom sector retains significant growth potential over the next few years. The fixed-line market is still dominated by the incumbent Telmex, with about 80% market share, while the mobile market is dominated by Telmex’s sister company Telcel, both being owned by América Móvil. The pay TV sector is similarly concentrated, with Grupo Televisa the dominant player in cable TV as also in satellite TV, where it is a major shareholder in Sky Mexico.

Legislation promoting telecom reform was passed in 2013, and since then efforts have been made to encourage competition and to curb América Móvil’s dominance. Part of the reform process involved the creation of a new telecom regulator to oversee the sector, remove barriers to foreign investment and encourage the entry of new players.

The process is beginning to show positive results, particularly with the expansion of Telefonia and AT&T in the market. AT&T in recent years has acquired Iusacell and Nextel Mexico, as well as DirecTV. The company’s potential acquisition of AWS spectrum, to be auctioned in early 2016, would enable it to develop its regional market plans, incorporating 400 million consumers in the US and Mexico.

Additional spectrum being auctioned will improve the ability of operators to offer mobile data services nationally, and extend mobile broadband services into rural areas.

This report provides an overview of Mexico’s telecom sector, including a review of the key operators, an assessment of the legal and regulatory landscape, and a range of statistics. The report also covers the mobile voice and data markets, including subscriber forecasts. In addition, the report provides statistics on Mexico’s fixed-line broadband and digital TV markets as these evolve in response to recent legislative changes.

Key developments:

• New telecom regulator formed to oversee telecom legislation aimed at encouraging competition;
• Continued strong growth in pay TV subscriptions;
• Cable operators report lower churn resulting from take up of bundles;
• Smart Grid deployments gathering pace;
• Telcel sells assets in eastern and northern areas;
• Regulator preps for 700MHz and AWS spectrum auctions;
• Telesites set up to manage América Móvil’s domestic tower business;
• Movistar investing MXN3 billion to expand LTE to 300 cities by 2018;
• Government reduces investment in state-owned shared mobile network from $10 billion to $7 billion;
• América Móvil develops m-payment platform with banks;
• Report update includes the regulator’s market data updates to June 2015, telcos’ financial and operating data to Q3 2015, recent market developments.

Companies mentioned in this report:

Telcel; Movistar, Iusacell, Teléfonos de México (Telmex), Axtel, Alestra, Maxcom, Marcatel, Megacable, Cablemás, Cablevisión, Sistemas Interactivos de Telecomunicaciones (SIT), Megafón, InterCable, CFE, Nextel Mexico, Grupo Televisa, AT&T, Globalstar, Unefón.