Mexico 1999 cellular phone growth seen at 80 pct
Tuesday November 30, 6:54 pm Eastern Time
MEXICO CITY, Nov 30 (Reuters) - The number of Mexicans with
cellular phone accounts was expected to grow 80 percent in
1999 to 6.3 million, the Federal Telecommunications
Commission (Cofetel) regulatory agency said.
``We have an impressive growth,' Fernando Butler, director
of Cofetel's economic analysis and general regulation
division, said late on Monday in a speech at a
telecommunications forum in Mexico City.
The agency said on Tuesday that cellular phone users in
Mexico numbered 3.5 million at the end of 1998. Previously,
Cofetel had put that figure at 3.3 million.
According to figures from the Communications and Transport
Ministry, the number of cellular users is growing between
350,000 and 400,000 a month.
The two largest cellular telephone companies in Mexico are
Telcel, part of dominant Mexican phone company Telefonos de
Mexico (Telmex)(NYSE:TMX) and Iusacell (NYSE:CEL),
controlled by Bell Atlantic Corp. (NYSE:BEL).
Butler said cellular phones had ceased being a luxury in this
country of about 100 million people, and were now seen as
necessary.
He said cellular phone use had been boosted by prepayment
schemes as well as the scrapping of a system under which
cellular phone users had to pay for incoming calls. Now the
calling party pays for calls made to cell phones.
The explosive growth in cell phones has clogged existing
wireless systems, and many users have complained of
disconnected calls and constant busy signals in recent months.
Cofetel has given cell phone providers deadlines to improve
service and threatened them with fines.
SOURCE: biz.yahoo.com |
