America Movil Fined $128m By Mexican Regulator

Mexican telco America Movil has been fined $128m by the country’s telecoms regulator, according to a Reuters report.

The company confirmed that its Telmex subsidiary had been fined by Mexico’s Federal Telecommunications Institute for failing to meet minimum quality standards in 2013.

Both America Movil and Telmex said that they intended to appeal against the decision, saying that it risked disrupting the stability of Mexico’s telecoms market.

“This illegal and disproportionate fine affects the certainty and legal security in a sector that requires important investments for its development,” America Movil and Telmex said in a joint statement issued to the press.

America Movil has customers in 25 countries across Latin America, the US and Central and Eastern Europe.

The Mexico-based operator posted a strong performance in its last set of financial results, recording a 7.7 per cent growth in EBITDA for the three months to the end of September to 71.8 billion pesos (€3.3 billion), or 13 per cent growth at constant exchange rates.

Earnings growth was boosted to the tune of around one percentage point by the release of certain provisions linked to a tax case its Claro unit won in Brazil, the telco explained. Its bottom line looked healthy at MXN18.6 billion, up from MXN2.5 billion. – Total Telecom