Mexican communications firm MVS Comunicaciones has reached a preliminary agreement with Clearwire and Intel to invest $700 million in a WiMAX network covering 23 cities, reports Bloomberg.
The joint-venture deal hinges on the Communications and Transportation Ministry renewing the company’s spectrum licenses in the 2.5GHz band in about eight cities, including the key markets of Monterrey and Guadalajara, according to company officials. Telecom analyst Andres Coello said he expects the authorities to renew the frequencies given MVS’s commitment to rolling out its network.
Clearwire is a minority shareholder in MVS, and their announcement is independent their plans to cover up to 120 million people in the U.S. by the end of next year.
If the licenses are renewed, MVS and its partners hope to start deploying a WiMax network during the second half of 2010, with commercial service starting in several cities during the fourth quarter. MVS currently provides publishing, radio, restricted television and wireless broadband services. It’s also the majority partner in Dish Mexico, a satellite-TV venture with EchoStar.
MVS would slug it out with Telmex, a telecommunications conglomerate headed by Carlos Slim which provides telecommunication products and services in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil (Embratel) and other countries in Latin America. Telcel, the country’s No. 1 mobile operator and a subsidiary of wireless giant America Movil, has also invested heavily to upgrade its network in recent years to offer high-speed data services.
The MVS WiMAX network would also put greater pressure on small phone companies such as Axtel, which is rolling out its own WiMax network.
MVS’s broadband ambitions would be a direct challenge to fixed-line incumbent Telmex (Telefonos de Mexico), the country’s biggest Internet service provider with 6.3 million broadband accounts at the end of September. There are currently 77.8 million mobile phone users in Mexico (pdf).
