Mr Carlos Salinas De Gortari, the former Mexican president who privatised the telecommunications in his country, is part of a generation of Latin American leaders who were banned from politics by their own people. Mr. Salinas fled his country to an exile in Ireland to avoid complications in Mexican justice. The other ones ranking along with him are Mr. Carlos Menem (now facing many processes in the Argentinean justice); Mr. Fujimori (was convicted and currently spend his time in a Peruvian jail); Mr. Fernando Henrique Cardoso, from Brazil (polls rank him as the most unpopular former Brazilian president, with approval rates persistently under 5%). All this politicians have in common having adopted the "Washington Consensus" recommendations in their government, and all of them carried out dreadful privatization policies. The result of privatization is a tragic legacy for their countries.

CARLOS SLIM IS THE FRONT OF CARLOS SALINAS LEGACY. MR. SLIM WAS ONLY A MR WHAT EVER MANAGER... A LUCKY MAN I WILL SAY

Forget land Lines, Cell phone coverage is the way to go, people can also get internet by satelite.

I agree that there is still a lot of potential to cut tariffs not only due to high EBIDTA margin of 52% but also due to the fact that structural changes in a company can bring down the costs faster. To illustrate, I would like to give you the example of India. The tariff here are lowest in the world at less than a cent per min but still the carriers manage to make over 40% EBIDTA margins. This is a result of innovative business models they have adopted like outsourcing of networks and customer care, focus on prepaid, high electronic recharge, etc. You can read the entire case study on how Indian companies reduced the costs on http://www.telecomcircle.com/2009/02/carriers-ebidta/

Regards,

Mohit

Competition makes everything better. Let more Cell phone carriers come in, allow other internet carriers come in, I would also like the duopoly of TV Azteca and Televisa to be broken. Then again 2 suppliers is always better than 1.

Carlos Slim Helu and the rest of the cartel of Mexican business oligarchs who regularly stifle competion, are largely responsible for retarding Mexico's economic growth, thereby forcing so many millions of its residents across the border into the U.S. Helu's sudden rise to wealth was achieved through Carlos Salinas de Gortari, the then-president of Mexico who privatized the communications industry & sold it to Helu for bargain-basement prices. Helu contributed $25 million to Salinas' campaign (who has been linked to the drug trade)--and now he has a 19% stake in the NYT, that oh-so-liberal publication that regularly publishes 'poor Juan' stories about the plight of illegal immigrants in the U.S. Hypocrisy, anyone?