Carlos Slim Helu – Telecom & Communications

Carlos Slim Helú (born January 28, 1940 in Mexico City) is a Mexican businessman. He is Latin America's richest man, and 3rd richest in the world according to Forbes.[2]

Slim has a substantial influence over the telecommunications industry in Mexico and indeed the whole Latin American region. He controls Teléfonos de México (Telmex), Telcel and América Móvil companies. Though he maintains an active involvement in his companies, his three sons Carlos Slim Domit, Marco Antonio Slim Domit and Patrick Slim Domit head them on a day to day basis.

Contents

1 Early history

2 Achievements, Directorships

2.1 Kingpin of telecoms

3 Awards

3.1 Chapultepec Accord

3.2 Family

4 References

5 See also

6 External links

Early history

His father Julián Slim Haddad Aglamaz (né Yusef Salim Haddad Aglamaz), a Lebanese from Jezzine, fled as a teenager to Mexico City in 1902, to escape the harsh military rule of the Ottoman Turks. Julián established a dry goods store called La Estrella del Oriente (Star of the Orient) in 1911, and shrewdly bought up some prime real estate in the city center. Julián married the daughter of another prosperous Mexican merchant, and had six children, of which Carlos was the fifth.

Julián died in 1952, leaving his family a moderately prosperous economic base from which Carlos launched his successful financial career. Carlos credits his father as his mentor in business, retailing and finance. Slim said, "courage taught me no matter how bad a crisis gets, Mexico isn't going to disappear, and that if I have confidence in the country, any sound investment will eventually pay off".

He is an engineer by profession, graduated from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) (National Autonomous University of Mexico) in 1961, where before graduating he taught Algebra and Linear Programming. He has given lectures in public and private institutions, and also in international bodies such as the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

In an announcement on 8 September 2006, Slim made public plans to match dollar for dollar all donations to charitable foundations in Mexico.

Achievements, Directorships

He has been vice-president of the Mexican Stock Exchange and President of the Mexican Association of Brokerage Houses. He was the first President of the Latin-American Committee of the New York Stock Exchange Administration Council, and was in office from 1996 through 1998.

He was on the Board of Directors of the Altria (Previously Philip Morris) Group (resigned in April, 2006) and Alcatel. He was on the Board of Directors of SBC Communications until July 2004 to devote more time to the World Education & Development Fund, which focussed on infrastructure, health and education projects.

He built an important Mexican financial-industrial empire, Grupo Carso, which owns, among other companies the CompUSA electronic retail chain. After 28 years he became the Honorary Lifetime Chairman of the business. He is also Chairman of Teléfonos de Mexico, América Móvil and Grupo Financiero Inbursa.

Kingpin of telecoms

He gained notoriety when he led a group of investors that included France Télécom and Southwestern Bell Corporation in buying Telmex from the Mexican government in 1990 in a public tender during the presidency of Carlos Salinas. He has attracted criticism from some for allegedly abusing its quasi-monopolistic power and stifling competition in long distance, local and mobile markets.

The change in ownership of Telmex coincided with telephone prices going up dramatically, and Mexicans complain that there was no comparable change in service quality. Slim is accused of using his influence on political leaders to ensure that Telmex's near monopoly on the communication market was maintained, allowing high rates to continue.

The lack of any real competition meant that consumers had to pay more for the telecommunication services than countries with a more competitive market. In recent years, increased public outcry, competition and regulatory assertiveness from the Mexican antitrust commission (Comisión Federal de Competencia) has resulted in lower rates. The long-distance market has been opened up to other competing providers. In 2006, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development based in Paris, reported that Mexicans pay some of the highest phone rates in the world.

(Bloomberg) -- Mexico's central bank President Guillermo Ortiz claimed:

``This dominant position implies difficulties for promoting more competition and, as a result, for lowering prices, Ortiz said during a conference in Mexico City on the country's competitive position.

High costs of telecommunications, electricity, etc have caused an erosion of Mexico's competitiveness compared with Asian and European countries, leaving growth of per capita income lagging behind them, Ortiz said.

Mexico has the highest costs of telephone service for business and international residential calls, and the highest cost of broadband internet for businesses among the 30 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Ortiz said.

According to the New York Times,[4] today, 9 out of 10 telephone lines in Mexico are operated by Telmex. The mobile company, Telcel, which Carlos Slim Helú also controls, operates almost 80 percent of all the country's cellphones. These operations have financed Mr. Slim's expansion abroad. Over the past five years, his wireless carrier América Móvil has bought cellphone companies across Latin America, and is now the region's dominant company, with more than 100 million subscribers.

Slim was once MCI's largest shareholder, with 13 percent ownership. On April 11, 2005, The Wall Street Journal announced that he had sold his stake in MCI to Verizon Communications of the United States.

Slim also is a common shareholder of US Commercial, SA de CV which wholly owns CompUSA Inc.

Awards

Slim has been awarded the Entrepreneurial Merit Medal of Honor from Mexico's Chamber of Commerce; he received the "Golden Plate Award", granted by the American Academy of Achievement, and the Belgian Government awarded him the Leopold II Commander Medal.

In the year 2000, Carlos Slim Helú organized the Fundación del Centro Histórico de la Ciudad de México A.C. (Mexico City Historic Downtown Foundation), whose objective is to revitalize and rescue Mexico City's historic downtown, for more people to live, work and find entertainment in this area. He is Chairman of the Executive Committee for the Restoration of the Historic Center since the year 2001.

Additionally, as part of his philanthropic work, he heads the Latin America Development Fund project.

Chapultepec Accord

In September 2005 Slim announced the creation of Chapultepec Accord, which is intended to push "the development of Latin America through the development of human capital and structural investment." The accord calls for public-private partnerships to fund education and hospitals and was signed by more than 4,000 of Mexico's most prominent business, political and academic leaders.[citation needed]

Family

Carlos Slim has six children. He and his family live in Mexico City.

References

^ Profile on Forbes Magazine retrieved on March 9, 2006

^ "The World's Billionaires", Luisa Kroll and Allison Fass, Forbes Magazine, March 9, 2006.

^ "Yo Quiero Todo Bell", Jonathan Kandell, Wired Magazine, January, 2001.

^ "Prodded by the Left, Mexico's Richest Man Talks Equity", Ginger Thompson, New York Times, June 3, 2006

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