Telmex boosts América Móvil’s fixed internet sales throughout Latin America

For example, only from July to September of this year, Claro – the brand with which América Móvil sells connectivity services in Latin America – in Brazil subscribed 59,000 internet customers, while in Argentina it added 44,000 subscribers, while in Colombia it added 61,000 and in Ecuador it added 31,000 broadband accesses, among other nations.

Telmex’s performance compared to other operations in the América Móvil region comes from the commercial and operational strategy that the company has undertaken since last year: increasing the fiber optic network to leave copper behind and increase megabytes without this implying a higher expense for subscribers.

Oscar Von Hauske, director and head of fixed line operations at América Móvil, acknowledged that Mexico faces an environment of greater competition in the fixed internet segment, but “Telmex has been reactive with investments in the modernization of the network, and now the 83.7% of the internet is already connected to fiber.” Free Netflix streaming for six months has been added to this strategy, with whose plan the company hopes to have positive results to expand and retain its customers.

Daniel Hajj, CEO of América Móvil, assured that the commercial strategy suggests that Telmex can add 100,000 customers on a quarterly basis, this despite the fact that the company still registers slight rotations due to economic issues.

“There is still a rotation issue in the fixed segment in Mexico but this can be attributed to the economy. But with the commercial strategy I think we are prepared to try to recover a little of the market share that we lost,” said the company’s general director in a conference with analysts on the occasion of the financial results for the third quarter of this year.

Data from the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) highlights that as of the third quarter of 2023, Telmex holds 39.4% of the market share of the fixed internet segment, while Televisa with its companies such as Izzi has 23.7%, and Totalplay with 18.2%.

Market analysts previously commented to Expansión that Telmex’s price ‘freezing’ strategy could have an impact among competitors such as Izzi, Totalplay and Megacable who, unlike the América Móvil subsidiary, increase the costs of their services to return a little the capital injection of fiber optic deployment.

Some of the reactions that the fixed internet market has had is to emulate Telmex’s strategy, bringing benefits to consumers. Izzi and Totalplay are some of the companies that have begun to replicate the plan of the América Móvil subsidiary, through increases in megabytes and even the incorporation of free streaming such as Apple TV for one year.