China Telecom studying Mexico investment - spokesman
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - China's third-largest carrier China Telecom is studying a possible investment in Mexico, a company spokesman said on Saturday, a day after Reuters reported that it is preparing a possible bid for Mexico's new $10 billion mobile broadband network.
The spokesman for subsidiary China Telecom Corporation Ltd. did not comment directly on the Reuters story but said in an emailed statement that China Telecom was doing a preliminary study on an investment opportunity in Mexico.
Reuters, citing sources, reported on Friday that China Telecom is looking for Mexican partners to join it in a consortium for the mobile broadband project, with up to several billion dollars of financing already secured from Chinese state-controlled banks.
The proposed network is part of a wider reform designed to break billionaire Carlos Slim's hold on the Mexican telecoms business and to improve poor broadband penetration levels.
(Reporting by Christine Murray in Mexico City and Gerry Shih in Beijing; Editing by Frances Kerry)
