Mexico's Television and Telephone Industries

Mexico is home to the world's richest man, Carlos Slim, who owns both Telmex, which has 80% of the landline market, and Telcel, which has has 70% of the mobile-phone market. Mr. Slim has a tight grip on the telephone empire charging among the highest usage fees in the world, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Emilio Azcárraga, another distinguished billionaire controls the television business, in which his company, Televisa, claims 70% of the country’s TV audience. Those who are not part of the Televisa audience are part of TV Azteca, run by yet another billionaire, Carlos Salinas. These three billionaires controlled the communication industries in peace until very recently when Televisa and TV Azteca decided, along with 25 other companies, to complain to the competition authorities against Mr Slim’s telephone empire, who's industry was deemed as an expensive bad monopoly. As tension between them rises, they have started to bundle phone and internet with cable service. The goal is that prices will drop as these giant industries undergo competitive reforms.

-Gilberto Perez