Move over Carlos Slim, you and your Telmex monopoly have company. A consortium led by Grupo Televisa SAB with partners Megacable (Mexico: MEGACPO.MX) and Telefonica SA (NYSE: TEF), won a 20-year $69.3 million lease for a fiber optic network from state-run utility Comision Federal de Electricidad.
After a competing bid from mobile operator Iusacell was rejected because it did not follow proper procedures, the consortium became the sole bidder in the fiber auction.
Now that the consortium won the auction, they have 18 months to build the network and get it up and running. Each of the consortium members said in May they will make their own investments, including network infrastructure (routers, switches, etc).
The major driver behind the fiber auction is to foster new wholesale network connectivity competition against Carlos Slim's Telmex monopoly, which could help lower prices for end-users. Up till now, competitive providers had little choice than to rent expensive facilities from Telmex.
For more:
- Wall Street Journal has this article (sub. req.)
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