Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa agreed Monday to renew the operating concession for the local unit of mobile phone giant America Movil, ending months of stalled negotiations, a top telecommunications official said.
Porta, the local subsidiary of Mexico City-based America Movil SAB, is willing to meet the price sought by Ecuador's government to continue operating in the country for 15 years, National Telecommunications Secretary Jamie Guerrero told reporters in Quito.
The decision came Monday after Correa met with America Movil CEO Daniel Hajj Aboumrad, Guerrero said. Ecuador's National Telecommunications Commission must still approve the decision.
Ecuador had been seeking 480 million U.S. dollars for the concession, although Guerrero did not confirm Monday's price.
America Movil, controlled by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, is the largest mobile phone services provider in Latin America, with 159.2 million subscribers in 16 countries.
Porta's concession was granted in the 1990s, and was due to expire on Aug. 28. It controls about 70 percent of Ecuador's mobile phone market.
Correa in February said America Movil and its chief competitor, a local unit of Madrid-based Telefonica SA, should pay a combined 700 million dollars for their concessions or leave the country.
Telefonica's Movistar unit, which controls 28 percent of the market, last month agreed to pay 200 million dollars to operate in Ecuador through 2023.
Source: Xinhua/Agencies
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