past week four
came out with its annual list of the world's richest folks and once again the
guy at the capitalists was carlos slim
he's recevied three billion dollars alll
magas carlos slam and how do you get a lot of money
he got up by controlling the majority of mexico's dell com industry
rich is going to world the mexican
slim purchased tell max which was the state
national telecommunications company
in nineteen ninety was privatized and ever since then he's grown this
mexican style coming up a leave quite well thank you very much
barclay in part to his abundant political connections
and uh...
the ability to buy politicians he's he's basically that at all
too you know have a stranglehold on the top row industry
nerve
particular cellphones but also hard wired phones
without asking any questions nationwide mexico but it looks like made me
mississippi's i saw in the in the uh... financial times yesterday
got me thinking about this
effected it basically assertiveness that may be carlos slim has vast wilf could
soon be taking a hit
yesterday the mexican government
this is the new in the pre party which has been
used to be the ruling party in that was in the matters again
uh... this is a nice in government announced a sweeping new proposal
to crack down on telecom monopolies and tycoons like carlos slim
believe it or not up
this is this is like the for u_s_ government after bill gates right
this bill which is part of exit has most ambitious economic reform package in a
generation their phrase not mine
waste alysha a telecom industry regulator who would have a wide array of
powers
companies control of markets
now why would you do that
'cause opens room or competition
basis limbs mexican telecom monopoly
competition amar places been basically killed
which drives up the prices for of you know phone-in internet services for
mexicans consumers
america and uh... america movie you'll is slims pan-american telecom brighter
control seventy percent of the cell phone market mexico
sorta like you know a t_v_ rising
any other new proposal regulating body of the telecom industry could classify
any company with more than a
after of the market share
as a so-called dominant companies surfers dominant
and donning companies would then be subjected to a variety of sanctions
buying means
rising-rate elation
means and they could even be forced to sell off their assets i was
they're breaking 'em up just like we broke up a_t_t_
why is it happening now
why have the lawmakers in mexico finally decided that they're going to chip away
a carlos slims empire
uh... looks pretty simple
the mexican people
and by extension the mexican government
has realized that libertarian capitalism left on checked
always leads to the top italy
carlos lins telcon takeover was left unchecked in he ended up gaining a
virtual monopoly on the industry at the expense the mexican people
unfortunately here the united states we've allowed our telecom industry to
also turn into a virtual monopoly really more of a doable e with eighteen t
verizon having a stranglehold on our market
and as a result of that
americans are being squeezed dry when it comes to our cell phone plans
but to your phone bill recently
with a t_n_t_ a cell phone plan with unlimited minutes unlimited texts and
five gigs of data
class a hundred and forty bucks a month
on verizon it's about a hundred and thirty bucks a month
now on the other side of the
atlantic over in europe
they figure this thing out they said you know
we're gonna have been up ella's
they enforce the european version of the sherman antitrust act
the u_s_ very very strong antitrust policies
as a result
display competition the cellular market europe which means lower costs for the
consumer for example
in the u_k_
applying compare aborted eighteen t verizon plans legislate out
would cause you know the eighteen g bryson plaza cause well over a hundred
bucks
as odd a little under seventy dollars sixty dollars and change an orange which
is why europe's larger cell phone providers
any reviewer to increase the amount of data in your plan oranges still be
paying less than eighteen teardrop
and continental europe because could be as well as twenty dollars a month
as of two thousand nine
american cell phone customers pay on average
six hundred thirty five dollars a year for surface
two-year
breeders six hundred thirty five
compare that with the netherlands in finland or it's a hundred and thirty one
dollars by year
two fifteen bucks a month
hundred and thirty seven dollars a year in sweden
in frantz the average citizen pays thirty three dollars a month
for the new york times described as and i quote
internet service twice as fast as what he had verizon comcast
bundled with digital high-definition television
unlimited long distance
an international calling two seventy countries
and wireless internet
connectivity for your laptop or smartphone throughout most of the
country
thirty-three dot dollars a month
to europe caught on to match hatman to monopolies the telecom industry made did
something about it
nl mexico's trade in the same thing to help insure competition a marvelous
and lower prices for consumers wish to his house larry's old bugger i mean is
it about time we did this
i'm so sick and tired of study hundreds of dollars on cell phones service i mean
between louise at me and we just got a simple plan
you know with with uh... five gigs a data you know enough so that you can use
your phone is a as a hot spot when you're traveling
and it's it's a couple hundred dollars a month that's insane we we'd be paying
for the two of us who pays seventy dollars a month a privilege in france
or less if we lived in germany and england dozens of nations throughout the
developed world repair parts
richard nixon
use the sherman antitrust act to break up a t_n_t_'s bell system into seven
different companies does the baby bells at it
ended up being on ended up really happening under the current
early reagan administration
this left the market open for new players to jumping at m_c_i_ and sprint
these companies you could just came outta nowhere
and it will one eighteen she was broke up at me and it was good for everybody
because you know if you own stock in a t_n_t_
and now you're on sock in the seven companies in the six baby bells and bell
labs
which became was renamed as uh... you know
whereas renamed ads
their value triple
email huh moneyless tak
but then came a reagan
anne functionally stopped in force in the sherman act the monopolies the
oligopoly is that do are police the tryout police begin to return
with the enemy any in the nineteen eighties member that
and the baby bells they've been successfully broken up a syrian back
together again
if we were to give the telcon internet oligopoly is the same treatment today
the richard nixon gave eighteen to nineteen seventies and maybe americans
could enjoy the same super fast internet speeds and super cheap awaits
the most of the rest of the developed world enjoys
and that mexico is trying to grab hold of right now
it's time to break up the telecom industry once again
and this time make sure it sticks
is insane
the you have a choice of
cell phone providers or three cell pro phone providers and a lot of areas the
coverage is so bad it's basically one cell phone provider
you can go to even the rural parts of europe
and pick from thirty or forty why's that
because even though one company may own the towers
multiple companies can carry their signals on the sellers
the technology is straightforwardly implants
you know it's not like to get a free ride
guess what you have competition
and in capitalism and libertarian capitalism one thing
companies were always try to do
is destroyed competition dario mat
and it hurts