End of US roaming charges will hit América Móvil revenues - CEO

América Móvil's recent decision to eliminate roaming charges for Telcel customer traveling to the US is sure to hit revenues in the short time, but the decision will have a positive impact in the long run, CEO Daniel Hajj said at a press conference.

"[The elimination of roaming charges] will be good at the end of the day, not immediately," he said, adding that the impact would depend on the number of people that subscribe to the service.

"At the beginning we may feel an impact, but in the long term I think we will have more revenue," he said.

Hajj expects a significant number of customer to sign up for the plan, which costs 50 pesos (US$3), and that will increase the use of Telcel phones in the US.

The elimination of roaming charges has also been adopted by Telefónica's local brand Movistar and US operator T-mobile.

América Móvil announced strategic plans to compete with new entrant AT&T last week, which include a US$6bn investment in the Mexican market over the next three years.

América Móvil has seen its dominance of the market threatened in the last year by the asymmetrical measures imposed by regulator IFT, which included elimination of interconnection points and long distance rates. Furthermore, AT&T's purchase of Mexican operators Nextel and Iusacell in January meant increased competition, which could turn into a loss of market share for América Móvil.

The company's net income fell 16% to 14bn pesos (US$890mn) in 2Q15, according to financial results released Thursday. In the first six months of the year, income dropped 28% compared to the same period of 2014.