Mexican broadcaster Televisa to launch mobile phone service, challenging Slim

MEXICO CITY: Mexican broadcaster Televisa said on Sunday it will start offering mobile phone service, a bid to challenge billionaire Carlos Slim’s America Movil, which has long dominated the country’s telecommunications market.

Rather than building infrastructure, Televisa will operate as a mobile virtual network operator, or MVNO, and begin by offering service to existing customers of its cable and home internet packages, sold under its Izzi brand. The broadcaster will rent space on Mexico’s wholesale telecom network, operated by Altan Redes.

Televisa originally planned to roll out the service in September, Izzi Chief Executive Salvi Folch said in an interview. But as cases of the coronavirus began climbing, executives sensed the economic turmoil stemming from the virus would create more demand for low-price phone packages and will now launch the service on Monday.