Is AM keeping its investment promises?

Puerto Rico’s Telecommunications Regulatory Board (JRT) has demanded that Mexican mobile giant America Movil (AM) provide a detailed breakdown of the USD190 million the company claims it invested in its first year of operations on the island, the watchdog told BNamericas. JRT president Miguel Reyes said that he believed AM’s report was superficial and did not specify exactly where spending was made. One area of concern is AM’s claim that part of the USD56.6 million invested in wireless infrastructure went into network maintenance. As a condition of AM’s purchase of fixed line incumbent Puerto Rico Telephone (PRT) early last year, US regulator the FCC stipulated that the Mexican group must invest USD1 billion over a five-year period. JRT did not give a timeframe for AM to respond to its enquiry, but added that the FCC could impose fines on the operator if it is found to be failing to meet commitments under its purchase agreement. TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database notes that PRT and its sister mobile operator Claro Puerto Rico are owned by Telecomunicaciones de Puerto Rico (Telpri), a holding company wholly owned by AM, and formerly part-owned by US-based Verizon Communications and the Puerto Rican government.