By Cassandra Garrison
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican telecommunications giant America Movil said on Wednesday the rollout of its 5G network in Mexico will cover 100 cities by the year end.
America Movil, controlled by the family of Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, in February announced the launch of its 5G network in 18 cities in Mexico, with a $1.8 billion planned investment.
At that time, the company said it aimed to cover 120 Mexico cities by the year end to kick off what regulators have said will become the largest 5G commercial network in Latin America.
In addition to Mexico, the company has rolled out some 5G services in the Dominican Republic and Peru, said Chief Executive Daniel Hajj, speaking in a call with analysts after first-quarter results.
“It’s doing good. I think 5G is going to give us a better ARPU (average revenue per user) to our prospect customers,” Hajj said.
Hajj said the company’s 5G strategy was “getting more, for more,” which implied customers pay more for 5G data, but said plans could vary by country.
Executives also said the company’s capital expenditure is on track to reach $8 billion in 2022, the same figure as 2021.
Shares of America Movil were down 1.5% on Wednesday morning following its first-quarter results on Tuesday which showed a surge in net profit on the back of strong operating income and foreign exchange gains.
The company’s revenue, however, rose just 2.4% from a year earlier to 211.2 billion pesos.
(Reporting by Cassandra Garrison; additional reporting by Noe Torres, Writing by Daina Beth Solomon and Marguerita Choy)
