Subject: [NEXTEL-1] America Movil To Offer Push-To-Talk Svc In Latin America

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2004 19:45:18 -0400

America Movil To Offer Push-To-Talk Svc In Latin America
April 28, 2004 3:15pm
Dow Jones Business News

By Amy Guthrie

Of DOW JONES NEWSWiRES

MEXICO CITY (Dow Jones)--Mexican wireless communications provider
America Movil SA (AMX) said Wednesday it plans to launch push-to-talk,
or walkie talkie-type, services throughout Latin America.

The carrier is hoping to first offer push-to-talk service in Mexico, as
early as in the fourth quarter, and then follow by launching the
application in the seven other Latin American markets where it operates.

"We hope to get better ARPUs (average revenue per user) with
push-to-talk," America Movil chief executive Daniel Hajj said during a
conference call.

By launching push-to-talk service, America Movil is going head-to-head
with NII Holdings Inc. (NIHD), which has built a lucrative business in
Latin America with its Nextel phones. The Reston, Va.-based company's
operations in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Peru earned a profit of $173
million last year on sales of $939 million.

By targeting corporate clients, the Nextel phones generate an average
revenue per user of $53 per month, or more than twice what other mobile
phone users in the region spend.

In Mexico, the revenue gap is even wider. The average Nextel user spends
about $78 each month on his two-way radio, compared with less than $20
spent by the typical client at America Movil's Mexican unit, Telcel.

The Nextel phones have become so popular in Mexico City that their beeps
are almost as commonly heard on the street as the ring of a regular
wireless phone. Many users carry both a Nextel phone - which, depending
on the contract, can also be used to place calls - and a regular cell
phone.

Nextel Communications Inc.'s (NXTL) Direct Connect technology, similar
to the concept of walkie-talkies, has become especially popular among
small- and medium-sized business owners, who view the phones as an
economical way of keeping their employees in constant contact. Radio
communication offers a 20% savings over rates for wireless phone
service.
NII Holdings had 1.46 million clients at the end of 2003, 658,000 of
whom were in Mexico. The company expects to attract 285,000 new clients
this year and raise revenue to $1.2 billion. To help achieve these goals
it expects to spend $225 million.
America Movil has not disclosed how much it expects the service rollout
to cost. The carrier originally planned to have capital expenditures
this year of $1.3 billion throughout the Americas, but it now expects to
spend more.

Currently America Movil is testing different handsets to see which
phones offer the best radio service on its Global System for Mobile
Communications, or GSM, technology platform. NII Holdings uses
integrated Digital Enhanced Network, or iDEN, technology developed by
Motorola Inc. (MOT), in Latin America.

Hajj said that America Movil will push back the service launch in
Mexico, if necessary, in order to guarantee quality. He also said that
America Movil should have several competitive advantages over Nextel in
the market segment, including its strong ties with corporate clients and
the capabilities of its communications network.

"I think we're going to have much better coverage than they (Nextel)
have today," Hajj said.
America Movil has 43.3 million customers in Latin America, 24.6 million
of whom are in Mexico. It also has operations in Argentina, Brazil,
Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua.

-By Amy Guthrie, Dow Jones Newswires; (5255) 5080-3453;
[email-masked]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires
April 28, 2004 15:15 ET (19:15 GMT)

http://www.hoovers.com/free/news/detail.xhtml?ArticleID=NR20040428460_dfc900189d7b663f

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