WASHINGTON-The Mexican government will auction new frequencies for paging, narrowband PCS (two-way paging), trunking and point-to-point microwave. The auctions are scheduled for late 1998 and early 1999, depending on the service, according to the Comision Federal de Telecomunicaciones (Cofetel), Mexico’s regulatory agency.
Earlier this year, Mexico successfully auctioned Personal Communications Services (PCS) and Wireless Local Loop (WLL) licenses, bringing in US$1.06 billion plus value-added taxes to the nation’s coffers. This money will help offset three budget cuts announced by the Mexican government after oil prices declined sharply, affecting the country’s exports. With the Asian crisis and the Russian stock market quandary looming in the background, the new auctions may bring badly needed proceeds.
Analysts have not discarded yet the possibility of economic instability in the region, and investors are wary of another Mexican peso crisis. The telecom sector in Mexico so far has been unscathed by the economic uncertainties elsewhere.
“An economic slowdown does not necessarily affect the telecom sector,” said Luiz Carvalho, telecommunications analyst for New York-Based Morgan Stanley. “In such an environment, telecom companies are usually better off than the rest. And since the introduction of prepaid cards for cellular service, the subscriber profile changed considerably. Although monthly expenditures per subscriber [have] decreased, companies don’t have to worry about unpaid bills as much.”
Indeed, the investments are rolling in, with new operators rushing to introduce service as soon as possible. “[Telecom operators] have very long investment horizons,” Carvalho said. “They are not affected by the possibility of crisis.”
Unefon (Sistemas Profesionales de Comunicaci
