Thanks to a better performance in Mexico and a recovery in mobile voice revenues in other Latin American markets, America Movil, controlled by billionaire Carlos Slim, was able to beat analyst expectations on Q2 revenue and underlying cash profit.

During the second quarter, the group’s consolidated revenues were up 1.6 per cent from Q2 2012, to MXN194.8 billion ($15.4 billion). Analysts, according to Bloomberg, had estimated sales of MXN190.8 billion.

Underlying cash profits for the quarter were MXN65 billion. That was slightly below the year-earlier quarter but nonetheless ahead of analysts’ expectations of MXN61.88 billion, according to a Reuters survey of six analysts.

America Movil reported that Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and Colombia posted significantly better growth figures than recent quarters.

Service revenue growth was particularly strong in Mexico, its largest market. Revenues totalled MXN69.6 billion, up 4.7 per cent year-on-year. Wireless revenues accounted for 65.5% of sales with the number of mobile subscribers standing at 72 million at the end of june, up 745,000 through the quarter. Mobile data revenues were up 17.4 per cent.

There are still difficulties in America Movil’s home market. While minutes of use rose 4.1 per cent in Mexico, the average revenue per minute declined 13.5 per cent to MXN0.36 peso cents. That’s a new low point for airtime prices for voice services.

It’s also uncertain how far regulatory reform will adversely affect America Movil’s operations in Mexico.

In Brazil, America Movil’s second-biggest market behind Mexico, second quarter revenues increased 8 per cent, year-on-year, to BRL8.1 billion ($3.6 billion), with fixed-line revenues representing 64.1 per cent of the total.

Service revenue growth accelerated sharply from 2.8 per cent in the first quarter to 7.6 per cent in the second. The improvement, says America Movil, was largely down to an increase in voice revenues on both fixed and mobile platforms. Mobile data revenues increased 17.8 per cent.

In its South American block as a whole, largely because of growth in Brazil, Chile and Ecuador, revenue growth was 8.5 per cent in the second quarter compared with 5 per cent during the first.

Group net income for the second quarter was MXN14.2 billion, 7.9 per cent higher than Q2 2012. The performance nonetheless missed analyst expectations as the operator was hurt by currency movements.