America Movil improves revenue in Q2, reveals strategies

America Movil, the largest telecom operator in Latin America based on the number of subscribers, said its revenue marginally rose to 257 billion pesos in the second quarter from 249.4 billion pesos.
America Movil KPN deal
The company, which is controlled by the family of Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, posted a net profit of 818 million Mexican pesos or $41.2 million, down 94 percent from 14.3 billion pesos during the same quarter a year ago.

America Movil said its performance was hurt by the U.S. dollar’s gains against the currencies of Mexico and Brazil, two of its key markets.

America Movil said its rising data revenues for both pre-paid and post-paid customers, will be the foundation for the future business. America Movil has added 1.1 million post-paid customers during the quarter.

America Movil’s performance in its home country has suffered in recent years as Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto pushed through reforms intended to weaken the company’s dominance of the sector, Reuters reported.

Last August, the Mexican Supreme Court sided with America Movil that it should not be barred from charging competitors for use of its network, weakening a key plank of the reform.

The telecoms minister of Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who takes office on Dec. 1, told Reuters he favors re-examining some regulations stemming from the reform, meaning the company may see more relief.

America Movil’s EBITDA rose 14.9 percent in Mexico during the quarter, the sharpest increase in almost 11 years.

America Movil CEO Daniel Hajj said on Wednesday that AT&T’s $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner will not change the telecoms landscape in the Latin America region, said a Reuters report.

“I don’t think it’s going to affect the market in Latin America,” America Movil CEO Daniel Hajj said on a call discussing the company’s second-quarter results. “There’s going to be more production of content, and everybody is going to have access to all of the content.”

On Brazil, one of America Movil’s most important markets, Hajj said the company is still evaluating whether to make a bid for Cemig Telecom, a unit of Brazilian utility Companhia Energetica de Minas Gerais .

“(If) the price looks good for us, then I think we are going to do it,” Hajj said. “And if not, then we are going to step out.”

The company said it will focus more in the coming months on Chile, where its market share has been slipping.

America Movil may challenge Chilean resolutions on telecoms, including a recent Supreme Court decision on spectrum, in international arbitration.

He said the resolutions create a lot of uncertainty for the future development and our future investments.

In Mexico, America Movil is recovering from a landmark telecoms reform intended to lessen its dominance, but the regulatory landscape for the company appears to be improving.

He added that he was hopeful that the company will soon obtain a license in Mexico to offer television, a service it has long been blocked from.