[CEL share price soars 3 1/2 to 18...]
Thursday December 9, 12:10 pm Eastern Time
Mexico telecom cellular firm jumps 25 percent
MEXICO CITY, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Shares of Mexico's No. 2
cellular service provider Nuevo Grupo Iusacell jumped 25
percent on the local stock exchange Thursday morning shortly
after Morgan Stanley Dean Witter said the company was its top
pick in the Latin American wireless telecom sector, traders said.
Iusacell V shares jolted up 3.40 pesos to 17 pesos, a fresh
life high, on volume of 41,000 shares while its ADRs (NYSE:CEL),
or American Depositary Receipts, soared 3-1/2 to 18 on Wall Street.
In a report Thursday, Morgan Stanley also set a year-end
price target of $19 for Iusacell's ADRs from a previous
$16.50. The company also offers paging, local and long
distance services to its clients.
``Iusacell has strong operating momentum, good valuation and
favorable long-term growth prospects,' Morgan Stanley said.
U.S.-based Bell Atlantic (NYSE:BEL - news) owns 40.4 percent
of the Mexican firm.
Iusacell, with 1.1 million suscribers as of September 30, is
the main competitor of Telcel, the cellular unit of top
Mexican local, long distance and Internet service provider
Telefonos de Mexico (Telmex) (NYSE:TMX).
By the end of the year's third quarter, Telcel said it had
4.15 million suscribers.
Use of cellular phones in Mexico shot up dramatically after
Mexico's telecom watchdog authorized in May the introduction
of the ``calling party pays' scheme in the country for
cellular phones. Under the new regulations, the receiver of a
cellular telephone call could no longer be charged for
incoming calls. |
