Latin America operator America Movil’s net income for the third quarter was down 21 percent year on year to MXN18.7 billion (US$1.43 billion), largely due to foreign exchange losses. The company incurred greater costs associated with the expansion, maintenance and integration of mobile and fixed networks, mainly in Mexico and Brazil. For the year to date however, net profit was slightly up – by 0.8 percent.

Third quarter revenues at the world's third-largest operator group (by connections) increased by 8 percent to hit MXN167 billion (US$12.72 billion), slightly up on Q3 2010. The revenue increase was attributed to the growth of both mobile and fixed data services. The company added 5.5 million wireless subscribers during the quarter, an 11.4 percent increase that took the total to 241.5 million subscribers. This was 3.5 percent up on the same period in 2010.

The company said its cashflow enabled it to make MXN134 billion in outlays during the first nine months of the year.

America Movil operates in a number of countries across South and Central America and the Caribbean and is owned by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim.

The company is currently trying to complete the acquisition of Digicel’s operations in El Salvador and Honduras in exchange for its operations in Jamaica, first agreed in March. El Salvador’s regulator recently stipulated that the company needs to sacrifice a chunk of spectrum for the deal to be approved. The company has also entered an agreement to buy digital entertainment company DLA Inc from Claxson Interactive Group.

America Movil’s dominance in Mexico – where its Telcel brand controls about 70 percent of the market – has been challenged this year with local regulator Cofetel demanding it halve the rate it charges competitors to terminate calls on its network.