Mexico Wants State-Owned Mobile Network – End Slim Monopoly

Mexico has received its first bid from a consortium to build a $10 billion state-owned mobile network, a linchpin of efforts to break the hold of Carlos Slim's America Movil on telecom services.

Telecom equipment makers Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson helped the consortium craft the proposal submitted to the government, four sources said.

Mexico's government, which estimates that the network will require an investment of about $10 billion over 10 years, wants to pick a winner in mid-2015, two sources said.

If the consortium's bid wins, those companies could be key suppliers of mobile antennae . . .