Mexico’s America Movil projects $8 bln to $8.2 bln investment in 2023

Mexican telecommunications firm America Movil expects to invest between $8 billion and $8.2 billion in 2023, which includes radio-frequency concessions, fiber-optic network expansions and digitalization, a company executive said Wednesday.

The estimate is in line with the company’s plan to invest $24 billion over three years, Chief Financial Officer Carlos Garcia said in a call with analysts.

The company invested around $7.9 billion last year, Garcia said, which could bump up 2023’s capital expenditures “because we have some things (budgeted to be spent in 2022) that we are going to (spend on) this year.”

The firm, controlled by the family of billionaire Carlos Slim, saw its fourth-quarter profit slide by 90%, it reported Tuesday. It was largely dinged by the deconsolidation of a Chilean subsidiary and currency headwinds, it said.

The results reflected “profitability pressures related to the inflationary backdrop that increased cost of service and (selling, general and administrative expenses),” analysts at Actinver said in a note.

America Movil expects to enact price hikes in 2023, though it is still evaluating which countries will see the increases, executives said Wednesday on the call.

Shares in the firm were down around 2% on Mexico’s main stock exchange following the call. US News