AT&T Plans To Become The Biggest Carrier In Mexico Within A Decade

AT&T recently bought two of Mexico’s largest carriers, Iusacell and Nextel; this move effectively made AT&T the second largest carrier in the country income-wise, only surpassed by Carlos Slim’s Am©rica M³vil, better known as, Telcel. But before AT&T Mexico can begin to build up what many believe will be the best carrier in the country and be the top competitor to Telcel, it must first wait a few years. According to AT&T Mexico’s Chief Executive Officer, Thaddeus Arroyo, the company won’t have a great impact at first, but will begin to work on their foundations, to someday take on the reportedly monopolistic carrier, owned by Carlos Slim.

AT&T surely made a big move by entering Mexico’s underdeveloped wireless networks as it will cause other relatively small carriers, like Movistar, to start offering better deals and services for their customers, in the hopes that they won’t switch to the upcoming AT&T Mexico. As of today, the Latin American country is still in the process of introducing 4G, this network is currently restricted to only a few states and territories across Mexico; AT&T’s main goal is to change that. Thaddeus Arroyo, AT&T Mexico´s CEO, stated “What we really want to do over the long term is deploy advanced fourth generation services to over 100 million Mexicans”, even if this will take some years. The biggest and first 4G network in the country is currently owned by Carlos Slim’s Telcel, but after a reform in the telecommunications sector, last year; Telcel now has -by law- to open up its own infrastructure and let other companies connect to Slim’s network without any cost. This has greatly brightened things up for other companies that had always lived under the shadow of Telcel.

The upgoing middle class development in the country is something that will also influence the growth of AT&T Mexico. Arroyo said that the majority of Mexico’s population is relatively young, which is a key factor in how well the company will establish itself. AT&T Mexico is predicted to become a market leader in at least ten years; But during that time, it will become clear how they will seek to offer customers, a better alternative to what will become its biggest competitor, Carlos Slim’s allegedly monopolistic Telcel.