(Bloomberg) — America Movil SAB has accused AT&T Inc. of coming between the media giant and its long-sought television license in a feud that has escalated to public name-calling as regulators decide whether to grant the permits.
America Movil chairman Carlos Slim Domit said at a rare press conference Tuesday that AT&T’s performance in Mexico has more to do with it appointing “mediocre” executives than lack of competition in the industry.
U.S. Trade Representative officials raised concerns about fair competition in Mexico’s telecom sector earlier this month, a USTR spokesman told Bloomberg News. Those concerns were related to America Movil’s request for a paid TV license through its Claro brand, according to a document of the meeting seen by Bloomberg.
Read More: U.S. Says It Raised Concern About Mexico Telecom Competition
Slim Domit suggested AT&T was involved in those complaints. AT&T didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
“We will reach out to USTR to talk about their concerns,” said America Movil Chief Executive Officer Daniel Hajj. “We’ll ask them to take a look at telecom prices in the U.S. and compare them to Mexico.” A TV license would not violate the North American trade agreement, said America Movil general counsel Alejandro Cantu.
Mexico’s telecom regulator IFT is studying whether to grant America Movil a much-coveted license to offer television services, President Commissioner Adolfo Cuevas said in December. America Movil was declared a preponderant market player in 2014 by the IFT and banned from offering additional services such as TV.
America Movil’s fixed phone line unit Telmex was also banned from offering TV when it received its original concession in 1990. But Claro TV, the unit that made the new request, didn’t yet exist when that decision was made, Cuevas said. That could potentially open up a legal window for the company.
Granting the license would broaden the market and bring additional competition, Hajj said. The company would invest an additional 8 billion pesos ($387 million) to develop the product, he said.
The regulator has a plenary session scheduled for Wednesday in which a vote on the TV license could come up. The IFT declined to comment on the session’s agenda and America Movil said it hadn’t been notified if the matter will be voted on.
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