MEXICO CITY, Nov 9 (Reuters) - Compaq Computer Corp.
<CPQ.N>, the world's largest personal computer maker, said on
Tuesday it would launch Internet access service in Mexico this
month, and expand the service later to other Latin American
countries.
Beginning Nov. 23, all Compaq desktop and portable
computers sold in Mexico would include one year of free
Internet access through Compaq's Internet Service Provider,
CompaqNET, company officials said at a news conference.
Lucio Galicia, a Compaq vice president for Latin America,
said Compaq hoped to have 50,000 Mexican subscribers to
CompaqNET by the end of 1999. Galicia said it could reach that
ambitious number because during December and the holiday
season, Compaq could easily sell 50,000 computers in Mexico.
Mexico's biggest ISP, telephone giant Telefonos de Mexico
(Telmex) <TELMEXL.MX><TMX.N> has a total of some 315,000
subscribers, with additions of some 32,000 a month.
Galicia said Compaq aimed to provide better infrastructure
for Internet access than its Mexican competitors, so that
subscribers would not get a busy signal when they dial in for
access. He said the company also planned to develop a Web
portal, and provide content for Internet subscribers in the
near future.
CompaqNET would begin service in Mexico's three main
industrial centers Mexico, Guadalajara and Monterrey, on
Nov. 23, and service would expand in December into 40 other
Mexican cities, Compaq officials said.
Compaq said the computers it currently sells through Telmex
on an installment payment plan would still be equipped with
Telmex's Prodigy Internet access service.
Galicia said Compaq had huge growth in Mexico and Latin
America this year. He said Compaq's 1999 computer sales were
projected to grow 300 percent in Mexico, compared with 1998
sales, based on units sold. He said sales income did not match
that growth because of deep price cuts.
He said units sold would be up more than 400 percent in
Argentina and Chile this year, but that Mexico was the pillar
of Latin American growth, accounting for 40 percent to 50
percent of the company's Latin American sales.
He said Mexico was Compaq's most important market
worldwide, after the United States, and before Japan, Europe,
and the rest of Latin America.
((Fiona Ortiz, Mexico City newsroom +525 728-9565,
mexicocity.newsroom@reuters.com))
REUTERS
(REUTERS) Compaq to launch Internet access in Latin America
Compaq to launch Internet access in Latin America
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