World's second richest man Carlos Slim may want a piece of India's telecom pie

The Warren Buffett of Mexico and the world’s second richest man Carlos Slim maybe eyeing India for his next big investment and the Slim-controlled America Móvil, the world’s fourth largest telecom company by subscriber base, might already have taken its first step towards an India entry. A report in the Economic Times today said the 75-year-old owner of America Movil met Videocon Group Chairman Venugopal Dhoot as well as senior executives of other mobile phone firms such as Bharti Airtel during his trip to India about two weeks ago to explore a possible partnership between Latin America’s leading telco and Indian telecom players. India is the world’s second-largest telecom market by subscribers where annual data growth is also over 50 percent. [caption id=“attachment_1998653” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Carlos Slim[/caption] Slim’s talks with Indian telecom players has been initiated at a time when cell phone service prices in Mexico have fallen almost 17 percent in two years after a reform aimed at curbing the power of billionaire Carlos Slim in the sector slashed call costs. Slim, who is worth an estimated $74 billion , controls 70% of Mexican mobile subscriptions and 80% of fixed lines (paywall) through his company America Movil. In the past year, Slim’s America Movil was banned from charging national roaming fees and a new law said it could not charge competitors for interconnection to its network. The new rules are hurting America Movil and in the fourth quarter, its Mexico wireless voice revenues plummeted 15 percent. “It would make sense for America Movil to explore an expansion into India, especially as it faces margin pressure in Mexico, where it reportedly cut prices recently to compete with aggressive rivals such as Grupo Televisa SAB and Telefonica SA,” an analyst was quoted as saying by Economic Times. The Indian government’s decision to allow 100 percent foreign direct investment in telecom is attracting a few telecom giants to enter the market. Since Movil is facing revenue pressure in Latin American, it may make sense for the telco to enter India depending on the new merger and acquisition guidelines. “The tenor of talks suggested Slim is scouting for a suitable Indian telecom partner in anticipation of business friendly rules, including those on M&A and on spectrum-sharing and trading,” ET quoted a source as saying. The much-awaited spectrum sharing and trading norms are likely to be taken up by the Cabinet at the end of June. The government has also promised a review of the M&A rules and may make them more industry friendly if needed.