In a study commissioned by the Mexican government and released on January 30, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) enumerated several criticisms of the Mexican telecommunications industry and recommendations for improvement.
Chief among these, the organization declared that “The lack of telecommunication competition in Mexico has led to inefficient telecommunications markets that impose significant costs on the Mexican economy and burden the welfare of its population.”
In the biggest headline-grabber, the OECD estimated that overly high rates for telecom services cost the Mexican economy an average of around 25 billion dollars per year, or roughly two percent of GDP.
Carlos Slim, owner of America Movil, which in turn owns Telmex and Telcel, companies which control 80 percent and 70 percent of the fixed-line and mobile telephone markets respectively, accused the OECD of pulling these numbers “out of thin air.” He cited the industry’s 30 billion dollar annual revenue to imply that the OECD’s estimates were “fantasy.”
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