Mexico’s top broadcaster Televisa to launch mobile phone service in challenge to Slim’s América Móvil

Starting on June 1, Televisa will offer mobile phone services in Mexico through Izzi Móvil for MXN $250 a month, immediately becoming the best offer in the telecoms market.

The Izzi Móvil package will include unlimited data , phone calls, and text messages. Currently, similar packages offer 3GB of mobile internet.

The company will use a Shared Network to offer the service, so it will be available on 50% of the country; it will be until 2024 when it reaches 92.2% of national coverage.

So far, Izzi offers cable and home internet packages , so by adding mobile phone services , it will boost competition with Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim’s América Móvil , although the latter does not offer cable in Mexico.

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Back in September 2018 , Televisa’s subsidiary companies signed contracts with Altán Redes to use their network and offer phone and internet services as well as home internet for households.

Televisa will operate as a mobile virtual network operator , or MVNO , by using the Shared Network displayed by Altán Redes , which currently covers 47 cities , according to their website.

Therefore, the places where Izzi can currently offer mobile phone service are Mexico City and the Metropolitan Area, Guadalajara and its Metropolitan Area, Monterrey and its Metropolitan area, Celaya, León, Puebla, Querétaro, Morelia, Tepic, Colima, Toluca, Cuernavaca, Veracruz, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Villahermosa, Puerto Vallarta, Chihuahua, Tampico, Torreón, Culiacán, Saltillo, Mérida, Hermosillo, Cancún, Playa del Carmen, San Luis Potosí, Mexicali, Ciudad Juárez, Tijuana, Chetumal, Coatzacoalcos, Minatitlán, Pachuca, Córdoba, Durango, Xalapa, Campeche, Ciudad del Carmen, Champotón, Los Mochis, Guasave, Guamúchil, Ensenada, Mazatlán, Ciudad Obregón, and Guaymas.

The Shared Network is a telecommunications infrastructure that operates under the scheme of Public-Private Association where the government provides a 700 MHz frequency and Altán Redes displays the infrastructure so that other companies, such as Televisa, pay for its use to supply services to the end users .

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In late 2019, Spanish telecoms giant Telefónica struck a deal to use some of U.S. rival AT&T’s infrastructure in Mexico, a move analysts said would better position both to compete with the market’s juggernaut, billionaire Carlos Slim’s América Móvil

Analysts framed the deal as a lifeline for Telefónica in Mexico , where the company has long struggled to gain traction. Despite a 2013-14 reform intended to lessen its dominance, América Móvil still holds nearly two-thirds of mobile lines in Mexico, according to data from telecoms regulator IFT .

AT&T

, too, has failed to significantly dent América Móvil’s market share since it spent billions to enter the country in 2015 by buying two local carriers.

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