Regulations have penalized us for providing a larger coverage

Billionaire Carlos Slim's telecommunications giant América Móvil plans to roll out a 4.5G network in Mexico by the end of the year, and gear up for 5G by 2020, CEO Daniel Hajj said at a news conference in Mexico City on Thursday.

"5G ... that comes in 2020. 4.5, we will have it at the end of the year," Hajj said, declining to give specific investment figures for the move toward 4.5G, a faster network that will be able to handle more traffic.

"It's basically thanks to all the investments that we have been doing to modernize the network over the last three years," he said.

For his part, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of TELMEX, Carlos Slim Domit, said that for the past 10 years Mexican telecom regulations have penalized América Móvil for providing a larger coverage, "Increasing our market share results in an adverse regulation for us.", said Slim Domit as he was being questioned on the lack of coverage in remote regions of the country. 

He added that "There is need for a regulation that fosters investment instead of discouraging it, the sort of regulation that promotes competition of the services provided and that boosts larger coverage." 

Slim noted that his company has invested USD$52m in Mexico alone during the past years and referred to the requirement made to TELMEX by the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) by stating, "We do not think this is the best way forward for the development of the industry."

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