[April 13, 2009] U.S. may target Mexican telecom giant for anti-competitive practices: report Tweet MEXICO CITY, Apr 13, 2009 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- The U.S. government may soon target Mexican telecommunications giant Telefonos de Mexico (Telmex) on its anti-competitive practices, Mexican press reported on Monday. "Mexico continues to have problems on avoiding anti-competitive practices by its main telecom providers Telmex and Telcel," Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), a body that advises the U.S. President on international trade issues, said in a report published in local newspaper Reforma. "The USTR urges Mexico to guarantee appropriate regulation rules," the USTR said. Early this month, Ron Kirk, who heads the body, said it would begin to prosecute nations that fail to meet WTO treaty requirements to open up markets and named "limits on foreign participation in telecom markets" among the list of major issues to be tackled. In Mexico, foreign ownership of assets is restricted in telecom and infrastructure companies. Telmex, privatized after being a government monopoly in the early 1990s, has what the Federal Competition Commission (CFC) calls a "dominant" position in the telecom market, with over 90 percent of the fixed-line phone and more than 80 percent of the cellular phone services. Kirk named Mexico as one of the 13 nations on a list of possible treaty violators that his office will be examining. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]