Mexican officials trying to dilute a near-monopoly on cell phone services have awarded valuable frequencies to a company that holds a near-monopoly in broadcast television, AP reported. Government regulators say the new radio wave concessions approved Monday by the Federal Telecommunications Commission will provide more competition for phone empire built by the world's richest man, Carlos Slim, whose companies control 73 percent of Mexico's cell market. Critics of the deal on Tuesday alleged that the process appeared to favor a consortium headed by Grupo Televisa, which controls about 70 percent of the broadcast television audience. «This only confirms the hypothesis that the commissioners and president of the regulatory agency have a boss: the monopolies,» said Oscar Romero, of the El Barzon activist group for consumers and debtors. The Telecommunications Commission, which had ruled most of Televisa's potential competitors out of the bidding, said the nearly unopposed auction creates a more equitable distribution of frequencies: «It meets the need of modifying our country's highly concentrated market structure,» the commission said in a news release. Government rules prevented bidders who already controlled significant chunks of frequency from participating in the bidding _ ruling out most potential competitors against Televisa SA de CV and its partner Comunicaciones Nextel de Mexico SA de CV. Officials then accepted a Televisa-Nextel bid with a much lower upfront payment than that offered by bidders in similar auctions. The Federal Competition Commission earlier said it accepted the low price because the priority was getting more competitors into the market, not getting the most money from bidders. Supporters of the deal say Televisa's long-term payments for the frequencies _ which can be used for the voice and data 3G cell service _ will be almost the same as its competitors. Some critics say decision undermines the government's claim it is battling monopolies. -- SPA
