By Cassandra Garrison
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Shares of Mexican telecoms giant America Movil slipped on Thursday, a day after a highly anticipated vote by a regulator kept the company without a sought-after license to enter the local pay TV market.
Shares of the company, controlled by the family of Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim, fell over 3% in early afternoon trading after showing little reaction when markets opened.
The losses oustripped a 0.6% decline in Mexico’s S&P/BMV IPC, which like Wall Street was down a day after the Federal Reserve announced a tightening of its monetary policy.
The Mexican telecom industry regulator, the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT), concluded a vote on Wednesday that means, for now, America Movil remains without a license for pay TV, a source with knowledge of the process said.
The company is the largest pay TV provider in Latin America, operating in countries including Brazil and Colombia, and has been pushing for the coveted license in Mexico.
The IFT and America Movil declined to comment.
“I think now the real negotiations happen behind the scenes,” said Roger Entner, an analyst at Recon Analytics. “Carlos Slim …. is not going to give up. He’s pulled so many rabbits out of a hat, you lose count.”
America Movil Chief Executive Officer Daniel Hajj had been vocal about the company’s ambition to get the authorization by the end of last year.
The prospect of America Movil’s entrance into Mexico’s pay TV sector rattled competitors. Some analysts and organizations warned it would be detrimental to competition.
U.S. officials had voiced concern to Mexican officials about competition if America Movil was granted the license, Reuters exclusively reported this week.
America Movil executives called a press conference after the report to say they were seeking to meet with U.S. officials to discuss their plans.
The firm had pledged an additional investment of 8 billion pesos ($387 million) to expand its fiber optic network if it got the green light to enter pay TV.
“I think they will (still) invest this in fiber,” Entner said. “You’re not going to cut off the nose to spite the face.”
(Reporting by Cassandra Garrison, Kylie Madry, and Miguel Angel Gutierrez; Editing by Bernard Orr and Richard Chang)
