Telefónica, Telcel gearing up to compete with AT&T

Mexican mobile telephony market leader Telcel, along with second-ranked provider Telefónica, is getting ready to compete with new competitor AT&T, which has announced the arrival of new post-paid plans for Iusacell and Nextel.

América Móvil's mobile telephony provider has moved into offering shared data plans, by which users can send data from their own plans to other users.

Telefónica's local operator Movistar opted to emulate AT&T and eliminated roaming charges between the US and Mexico.

AT&T, which earlier this year officially entered the Mexican market by finalizing the purchase of Nextel and Iusacell, has been disclosing its plans for Mexico, including US$3bn in investment through 2018.to expand infrastructure.

The network will cover 100mn people in Mexico and is expected to be in operation by 2018. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said that, combined with its US network, the operator will reach 400mn users.

"We will create the first North American mobile service," he said. "This network will allow our countries, economies people and cultures to be fully connected."