Mexican Competition Commission Accepts Commitments And Revokes Monopolization Fine Imposed On Telcel

The Mexican Federal Competition Commission ("CFC") has revoked a fine of approximately US $1 billion that it had imposed on Mexican telecommunications company Radiomóvil Dipsa, S.A de C.V. (Telcel), a subsidiary of América Móvil, owned by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim.The revocation resulted from Telcel having agreed to comply with certain commitments, including suspending the conduct that led to the CFC investigation and decision to fine, taking advantage of a peculiar feature of Mexican Competition Law.

In April 2011, the CFC decided to fine Telcel for monopolistic conduct in how it charged competitors for terminating their calls on the Tecel mobile telephone network. The CFC action resulted from a complaint filed in 2006 by Axtel, Alestra, Marcatel, Megacable, Protel and Telefónica. The CFC determined that Telcel had increased its competitors costs by fixing an interconnection fee (off-net) that was higher than the fee charged on calls in its own network