Telecom Dispute Between US and Mexico Nears Resolution

MEXICO CITY, Dec. 29 -- Telefonos de Mexico (Telmex) has reached a deal with Alestra (49 percent owned by AT&T) and Avantel (partly owned by WorldCom Inc.) that will bring an end to the six-month trade dispute over Telmex's dominance of Mexico's $12-billion telecommunications market. Few details of the content of the agreement were released, but a joint statement from representatives of all three companies stated that the dispute was nearly over.
Telmex is recognizing the new reality that there will be more competition andmuch lower interconnection rates, said UBS Warburg Mexico analyst Damian Fraser.
Last July the US took the complaints of AT&T and WorldCom to the World Trade Organization after talks between the US and Mexico failed to produce an agreement. The US then requested that a WTO dispute panel be formed to decide if Mexico had met its pledges to open up the market.