Mexico fines Slim’s Telcel $94 million for SIM card deal with Oxxo convenience chain

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By Brendan O’Boyle and Cassandra Garrison

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexico’s telecommunications regulator fined America Movil’s subsidiary Telcel 1.78 billion pesos ($93.61 million) on Tuesday for striking exclusivity deals with convenience store chain Oxxo to sell its SIM cards.

America Movil, the telecommunications giant controlled by the family of Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, denied the regulator’s findings and pledged to challenge the investigation and fine.

The fine follows an investigation launched in 2021 by the Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT) at the request of a competitor over the alleged monopolistic practices by Telcel.

The IFT also levied 19.5-million-peso fines on Oxxo, Mexico’s ubiquitous Femsa-owned convenience chain, and IMMEX, another Femsa subsidiary, for their role in the deal.

The “monopolistic practice consisted of Telcel granting incentives to Oxxo and IMMEX, on the condition that they would not sell SIM cards from competitors,” the IFT said.

Telcel will fight the decision “through all available legal means,” America Movil said in a statement, calling the investigation from the IFT “biased” and “lacking evidence.”

In its own statement, Femsa said it “does not agree with the grounds of the resolution,” which it said does not reflect its business model of “broad, diverse and open” offerings.

Femsa said it would contest the resolution through the corresponding legal channels.

($1 = 19.0150 Mexican pesos)

(Reporting by Brendan O’Boyle and Cassandra Garrison; Editing by Bill Berkrot, Stephen Coates and Muralikumar Anantharaman)